Meta’s Supervisory Board has taken note of the company’s content moderation policies in Venezuela amid violent repression and widespread protests following the country’s disputed presidential election. In its ruling, the board noted that Facebook users who post about state-sponsored armed groups known as “collectives” should be given more leeway to make statements such as “kill those damn collectives.”
The company appealed to the Supervisory Board for guidance on the issue last month, noting that its moderators had seen an “influx” of “anti-collective content” since the election. Meta specifically asked for feedback from the board in two posts: “Go to Hell! I hope they kill you all!” According to Meta, it was directed at collectives and a Facebook post criticizing Venezuela’s security forces and saying “kill these damn collectives”.
Neither post violated Meta’s rules on incitement to violence, and both should be interpreted as “willing statements” by citizens of a country where state-sponsored violence threatens freedom of expression, the Review Board said. “The targets of the intended violence are state-sponsored forces that have contributed to the longstanding repression of civil space and other human rights violations in Venezuela, including the current post-election crisis,” the board’s decision said. “On the contrary, the civilian population has mainly become the target of human rights violations.”
The Review Board also criticized Meta’s practice of making political content less visible on its services. “The Board is also deeply concerned that the company’s policy of reducing the dissemination of political content in the context of Venezuela may undermine the ability of users to express political dissent and to reach the widest possible audience for awareness of the situation in Venezuela.” It advised Meta to adapt its policy during the crisis “to ensure that political content, particularly around elections and post-election protests, has the same coverage as non-political content”.
This is not the first time the board has entered into a debate over the role of political content in Meta apps. Earlier this year, the board accepted the first case for a position About Threadswhich is expected to influence Meta’s controversial decision to limit recommendations of political posts on the service. The Board of Directors has not yet published its decision on this case.
