Following Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election, Meta moderators noticed an influx of anti-“collective” content / Reference photo
The Meta Oversight Board announced Thursday that it is “expediting” two cases of Facebook and Instagram posts related to “the post-election crisis in Venezuela” to see if the videos shared, despite their violent content, can be considered “vital political criticism.”
Following Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election, Meta moderators noticed an influx of content targeting “colectivos,” pro-Chavez pressure groups that the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp describes as “state-backed armed groups.”
“This has raised critical questions about the balance the company must strike when moderating posts that could contain vital political criticism and raise awareness of human rights abuses in a repressive environment, but which may also employ violent language during such a volatile period,” the company said.
In the first case, a user posted a video on Facebook showing a group of men on motorcycles, believed to be part of these groups, and people running down the street upon seeing them.
The man filming shouts that they are attacking people and the subtitle of the piece reads in Spanish: “kill those damn groups.”
“Meta removed this post under its rules on violence and incitement as a call to action to commit acts of high-severity violence,” the company said in a statement.
In the second case, a video was posted on Instagram showing groups on motorbikes approaching a block of flats and a woman could be heard shouting: “Go to hell! I hope they kill you all!”
According to the company, this content differed from the first case post because it was not a direct call to action.
The board announced Thursday that it will now deliberate on the two posts and issue a single decision “that will be binding on Meta and will inform the company’s approach to this type of content in Venezuela in general” and that the decision will be published within 30 days.
New York / EFE
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2024-08-23 06:05:14
