Posting violence and threats to life in Meta is normal

Budrigannews.com – On Monday, Meta’s Oversight Board reversed its decision to remove a Facebook (NASDAQ:) post that criticized the Iranian leader with the slogan “death to Khamenei,” claiming that it did not violate a rule against violent threats.

The board, which is independent but receives funding from Meta, ruled that the phrase “down with Khamenei” frequently refers to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been leading a violent crackdown on nationwide protests in recent months.

It also urged the business to come up with better ways to incorporate this kind of context into its content policies and to make it clear when rhetorical threats against heads of state could be allowed.

“‘Marg bar Khamenei’ should be understood as ‘down with,’ both in the context of the post and the broader social, political, and linguistic situation in Iran. The board wrote, “It is a political slogan and not a credible threat.”

Following the death in custody of a Kurdish Iranian woman, 22 years old, who was arrested for wearing “inappropriate attire” in accordance with the country’s strict dress code for women, Iran has been gripped by demonstrations since the middle of September.

One of the biggest challenges to the government of the Shi’ite Muslim-ruled Islamic Republic since the revolution in 1979 has been the protests, in which people from all walks of life are calling for the downfall of Iran’s ruling theocracy.

Meta, which has repeatedly wavered in its treatment of violent political rhetoric on its platforms, was presented with a conundrum as a result of the unrest that is now well-known.

The company prohibits language that encourages “serious violence,” but it tries not to go too far by only enforcing the rule against credible threats and leaving ambiguity about when and how it applies.

Meta, for instance, implemented a temporary exemption to allow calls for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year in an effort to provide users in the region with a platform in which they could vent their rage regarding the conflict.

However, after Reuters discovered its existence, it reversed the exemption a few days later.

Meta has also come under fire for the way its platforms were used to organize in the days leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Before the attack, phrases like “kill them all” and calls for violence against specific U.S. political leaders were posted in thousands of Facebook Groups based in the United States.

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In its decision, the Oversight Board said that statements like “death to Khamenei” were different from threats that were posted around January 6 because politicians at the time were “clearly at risk” in the US context and “death to” was not a rhetorical English statement.