Meta announced on Tuesday that it will lift its blanket ban on the word “shaheed,” or “martyr” in English, after a year-long review by its oversight board found the social media giant’s approach was “overbroad.”
The company’s handling of content involving the Middle East has been criticized for years. A 2021 study commissioned by Meta found that its approach had an “adverse human rights impact” on Palestinians and other Arabic-speaking users of its services. These criticisms have intensified since the onset of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in October.
The oversight board, funded by Meta but operating independently, began its review last year because the word “shaheed” accounted for more content removals on the company’s platforms than any other single word or phrase. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, acknowledged the findings of the review on Tuesday.
The review, completed in March, found that Meta’s rules on “shaheed” failed to account for the word’s variety of meanings and led to the removal of content not aimed at praising violent actions. Meta stated that its tests showed removing content when “shaheed” was “paired with otherwise violating content” captures the most potentially harmful content without disproportionately impacting the voice of users.
The oversight board welcomed the change, stating that Meta’s policy related to the word had led to the censoring of millions of people across its platforms.
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