Facebook, Instagram posts about Israel, Gaza under ‘expedited review’ by Meta Oversight Board

Two posts on Meta-owned platforms Instagram and Facebook about recent attacks in Israel and Gaza are under an “expedited review” by the Meta Oversight Board, the group announced Thursday.

The cases mark the first time the Meta Oversight Board is conducting a review on an expedited basis, meaning a decision will be published within 30 days.

Meta, like other tech platforms, has been scrutinized over its handling of content about the conflict.

“Crisis situations are not an excuse for social media platforms to suspend rules or default to censorship, they’re a reminder to double down on efforts to protect voice and safety,” Thomas Hughes, director of the oversight board administration, said in a statement. 

“The Israel-Hamas conflict underscores the many challenges to content moderation during crisis situations. The Board looks forward to reviewing how Meta is following through on its human rights commitments, as well as past recommendations from the Board on how to manage crises,” Hughes added.  

The board, which comprises a panel of global academics, experts and civic leaders, is run independently of Meta and funded by an independent trust provided by the tech company. 

The board has the authority to dictate if Meta should reverse content decisions, meaning whether a post should be allowed or not on the platforms. Any policy recommendations the board makes are nonbinding; Meta makes the final decision on whether or not to enforce them.

The board will review two pieces of content Meta initially removed.  

The first piece of content the board is reviewing is about an Instagram post from early November that showed what appeared to be the aftermath of a strike on a yard outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, including showing people injured or dead on the ground, according to the announcement.  

The post was initially removed by Meta for violating rules on graphic content, but after being selected for review by the board was restored with a warning screen that the content is “disturbing,” according to the board.

The second case the board is reviewing is a Facebook post that showed a woman begging her kidnappers not to kill her as she was taken hostage, and then showed a man who appeared to be another hostage being marched away by captors, according to the board’s announcement.  

Meta removed the post initially for violating its rules on violence and incitement and over its Dangerous Organization and Individuals policy that prohibits third-party imagery depicting moments of designated terror attacks on visible victims.

In the weeks that followed the attack, though, Meta revised its policy in response to trends on how hostage kidnapping videos were being shared and reversed its decision to restore the content with a warning screen, according to the Oversight Board.

In response to the board’s decision, a Meta spokesperson said “the Oversight Board’s guidance in these cases, along with feedback from other experts, will help us to continue to evolve our policies and response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.”