(San Francisco) Do posts accusing entire national communities of crimes amount to violations of Meta’s hate speech rules? This is the question in which the supervisory board of the group (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) announced its interest on Tuesday.
This Meta organization, nicknamed “Supreme Court”, declared that it was looking into the subject through three different cases but with a common theme coming from its Facebook, Instagram, and Threads platforms.
“The board chose these cases to consider whether Meta should exercise restraint on these allegations of nationality-based criminality, particularly in times of crisis or conflict,” the body said in an email to the AFP.
In each case, Meta removed the post for violating its ban on hate speech.
One of the posts in question concerns a comment on Threads in which Israelis were accused of taking part in genocide in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to the council.
The other two publications concern Americans, East Indians and Russians, all accused of criminal behavior, the body said in a statement.
The Meta group brought these publications forward for review by the council because of the dilemma posed between prohibiting accusations against groups of people and allowing attacks against ideas or institutions –– which is what Meta allows – according to the “Supreme Court” of the company.
If Meta has accepted the binding nature of certain decisions of this independent supervisory board, the technology giant considers the recommendations relating to its rules as non-binding.