We selected new cases on a political dispute ahead of the Turkish election & content promoting ketamine; + more on our sessions at RightsCon 2023

Hello and welcome to Across the Board, the Oversight Board's monthly newsletter filled with updates about our cases, decisions, and stakeholder engagement activities.

This month: we selected new cases related to a political dispute leading up to the Turkish elections and to content promoting the use of ketamine for treatments not authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); our Board Members and staff joined discussions on content moderation in Asia and the Middle East with digital rights activists and industry leaders; finally, our sessions at #RightsCon2023 and some interesting reads from us.

+ we opened our call for public comments for our four new cases. If you or your organization feel that you can contribute valuable perspectives that can help with reaching a decision on our new cases, you can submit your comment via the links below until 23:59 your local time, Thursday, June 8. 

Thanks for reading,

The Oversight Board

📢 The Board selected three new cases related to a political dispute ahead of the Turkish elections

This week, we announced the Board has selected three new cases concerning moderation of a political dispute ahead of the elections in Turkey.  

The cases relate to content that reported on Istanbul Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's visit to a city affected by the earthquake in Turkey. A former AKP member accused him of staging a "show," called him a "British servant" (Turkish: İngiliz uşağı) and demanded he leave and go back to Istanbul. 

Three Turkish outlets  BirGün Gazetesi ,  Bolu Gündem  and Komedya Haber reported the confrontation on Instagram and Facebook but their posts were removed by Meta for violating its rules on Hate Speech. Meta claimed the posts were found to be in violation of their policy against slurs. 

At the time the videos were removed, "British servant" (Turkish: “İngiliz uşağı”) was on Meta's non-public slur list for Turkish language. The outlets appealed and argued the role of news reporting during crises and contested the hate speech classification of their content.

As a result of the Board selecting these cases, the company determined that while the posts violated the policy, they should have been left up as they were in the “public interest.” The Board will now decide whether the content should stay up or be removed and look at questions like what to do about hate speech targeted at elected officials, particularly in situations like the run-up to the Turkish elections.

An important part of the Board's deliberation process is gathering additional insights and expertise from individuals and organizations is essential part of the Board’s deliberation process. This input allows Board Members to tap into more knowledge and understand how Meta’s policies affect different people in different parts of the world. 

If you or your organizations feel that you can contribute valuable perspective to our new case, you can submit your contributions via the link below.

Deadline: 23:59 your local time, Thursday, June 8.

...and also a new case related to content promoting the use of Ketamine for treatments not authorized by the FDA 

This case relates to an Instagram post in which the user describes their experience with ketamine and refers to the drug as an important emerging mental health medicine. 

In total, three users reported one or more of the 10 images included in the post, and the content was removed three times under Meta’s rules on Restricted Goods and Services. After the removal, the content creator, who is a "managed partner," brought this content to Meta’s attention for an additional review on an escalation level.

“Managed partners” are entities across different industries that may receive varying levels of support, including training on how to use Meta’s products and a dedicated partner manager who can work with them to meet their goals on the company’s platforms. Meta then restored the content a third time and referred the case to the Board. 

In its referral, Meta states that the increasing use of mind-altering drugs in the United States for purposes that blur the line between medical treatment, self-help, and recreation, makes it particularly difficult to ascertain whether this content should be treated as promoting pharmaceutical drugs, which is generally allowed on the platform, or as endorsing drugs for non-prescribed purposes or in order to achieve a high, which is generally not allowed. 

The Board selected this case because it addresses a current issue within the United States and other jurisdictions: the legalization and normalization of certain drugs, specifically for medical uses. 

If you or your organizations feel that you can contribute valuable perspective to our new case, you can submit your contributions via the link below.

Deadline: 23:59 your local time, Thursday, June 8.

🔍 How does Meta moderate content in Arabic-speaking countries? | #PDAS2023

Last year, following a recommendation from the Board, Meta shared an independent review of their content moderation policies during the May 2021 escalation on the Gaza Strip. Meta commissioned Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) to conduct this review.

According to the BSR report, Meta's content moderation practices in Israel and Palestine were found to be inadequate. The report identified several issues that Meta needs to address such as the inconsistent enforcement of community standards, a lack of transparency in decision-making processes, the challenges of operating in a complex political environment, and the need to engage more with local stakeholders. The report also emphasized the importance of ensuring that online platforms remain safe spaces for all users and urged Meta to take swift action to improve its content moderation practices in the region.

Our Board Members  Tawakkol Karman  and  Nighat Dad , along with Vice President of Policy and Content Review  Cynthia M. Wong Wong, our Acting Head of Public Engagement,  Simona Sikimic-French Sikimic and Senior Case Policy Officer,  Jenny Domino , joined digital rights activists at the Palestine Digital Activism Forum 2023 to discuss the BSR findings and how to create safer and more transparent online spaces for Middle Eastern internet users.

During the forum, Tawakkol Karman emphasized the need for collective efforts from activists and human rights defenders to locate and fight against misleading information and disinformation, improve media literacy, and build the capacity of social media users, especially in the MENA region where social media platforms have played a key role in shaping communities such as during the Arab Spring.

Tawakkol emphasizes the critical need for responsible use of social media in today's society, where false information and propaganda are rampant. As social media becomes people's go-to source of news and information, there must be greater emphasis on media education, critical thinking, and fact-checking skills to combat the spread of fake stories.

By empowering a strong community of activists and human rights defenders with the resources to tackle disinformation, we can strive towards a more fair and transparent cyber world.

🌐 The evolution of content moderation in the Global Majority | #DRAPAC23

On May 23 and 24, our Board Member  Endy Bayuni  joined DRAPAC’s participants to discuss digital rights in the Asia Pacific region. From improving content moderation for diverse voices to tackling online gender-based violence and promoting collaboration, the topics were both wide-ranging and crucial.

In one session on "Content Moderation and the Global Majority," Endy was joined by experts from Wikimedia and Hashtag Generation, where they explored how different content moderation models impact underrepresented groups. As an organization,we aim to prioritize diverse voices, and over half of our selected cases come from the Global Majority. However, we recognize that there is still work to be done to ensure equal participation from all communities.

Endy also participated in a panel organized by EngageMedia on "Building Collaborations on Digital Rights," where he emphasized the importance of collaboration within the Asia Pacific region and shared the Board's mechanisms for engaging with civil society. As he highlighted, as a Board, our achievements so far have been made possible by the efforts of researchers, civil society groups and others who have worked on these issues for many years. To strengthen our efforts, we aim to partner with organizations worldwide through public comments, roundtables, and individual conversations. 

Additionally, Endy spoke on a panel discussing new forms of AI-facilitated gender-based violence and the Board's work in tackling online gender-based violence and automation. He noted the obstacles women, non-binary, and trans people face in exercising their freedom of expression on social media and cited Meta's failure to apply exceptions for breast cancer awareness in the "breast cancer symptoms and nudity" decision as an example. 

As Endy stressed, we are committed to exploring the issue of content policy gender-based disparities and the challenges that women and #LGBTQ+ individuals encounter when expressing themselves openly. Our efforts will be focused on understanding and addressing these issues in order to promote a more equitable and inclusive environment for all individuals to express themselves freely.

👀 Join our team at RightsCon 2023 in Costa Rica!

Next month, our team is excited to travel to Costa Rica and participate in RightsCon 2023 from June 5 to 8.

We will join forces with leading experts to dive into the pressing issues around human rights and technology. Expect a multitude of workshops, panels, and roundtables that address a wide range of topics.

Be sure to catch us at the RightsCon Community Village ( Access Now ) on June 6 and at the following sessions:

June 5

• Board Member Pamela San Martín will be joining DEFCON to participate in a session titled "Empowering the Digital Citizen: Fireside Chats on Meaningful Digital Participation, Co-Designing Content Policies, Building Safety and Trust Features Online." You can register for this session here.

June 6

• Senior Case Policy Officer  Lisa Lengeling , Data and Implementation Officer,  Carly Miller , Case Policy Officer  Philip Friedrich , and Senior Case Screening Officer  Sabrina Ahmad  will be hosting a workshop on "Making the Case: Best Practices for User Appeals" . Online only. 
• Our Senior Case and Policy Officers  Dia Kayyali  and  Nino Guruli  will give a lightning talk on "Tech in situations of conflict and crisis," with Valentina Vera-Quiroz ( Wikimedia Foundation ) and Abeera Akhtar ( UNICEF ). In-person only.
• Our Board Member  Nighat Dad  will discuss “Protect and respect: technology-facilitated gender-based violence” with Alexandra Robinson ( United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) ), Amandeep Sigh Gill ( UN Tech Envoy), jac sm kee (Numun Fund). In-person and online.
• Our Senior Case and Policy Officer  Dia Kayyali  will join Paul Ash (Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Cyber and Digital, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet) to discuss "Countering gender-based hate online and its drive towards violent extremism." In-person only.
• Our Board Member  Nighat Dad  will discuss "Operationalizing inclusion in the future web," with Agustina Del Campo (CELE) and Victoire Rio (Digital rights activist). In-person only.
• Our Co-Chair Catalina Botero Marino will attend a session titled "¿De Bruselas, con amor? La importación de la Ley de Servicios Digitales (DSA) en América Latina," with Javier Pallero (Access Now), Ramiro Alvarez Ugarte (CELE), Angeris Sampieri (Access Now) and Adalid Madrano (Practicing attorney in Costa Rica). In-person only.

June 7

• Our Co-Chair Catalina Botero Marino and Board Member Pamela San Martín will join a discussion on "Demystifying self-regulation models for tech accountability," with Maria Luisa Stasi ( ARTICLE 19 ) and Shmyla Khan ( Digital Rights Foundation ). In-person only.

June 8

• Our Board Member  Nighat Dad  will discuss "How legislation in the EU impacts the Global South," with Itxaso Domínguez de Olazába ( 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media ), Nadim Nashif 🍉 نديم ناشف (7amleh), Tomiwa Ilori ( University of Pretoria ) and Alia Al Ghussain ( Amnesty International ). In-person only.
• Our Co-Chair Catalina Botero-Marino, Board Members  Nighat Dad  and Acting Head of Case Screening  Kevin Koehler  will hold a roundtable titled "Fair enough? What's next for appeal systems and transparency." In-person only.
• Our Co-Chair Evelyn Aswad will join a session on "Expanding beyond takedowns: developing rights-respecting tools to address misinformation and disinformation," with Jacob Mchangama ( Justitia ), Nidhi Hebbar ( Google ) and Tomiwa Ilori (University of Pretoria). Online.
• Our Senior Case and Policy Officer  Nino Guruli  will join a session on “Developing tech solutions during humanitarian and conflict-related crises“ with Geordy Kitchen (Google) and Mark Silverman ( International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC ). In-person only.

📚  Interesting reads 

Some interesting articles and blog posts on technology we have read this month: 

• Lost in Translation: Large Language Models in Non-English Content Analysis(Center for Democracy and Technology)
• Social Media Can Be a ‘Profound Risk’ to Youth, Surgeon General Warns(The New York Times)
• The Vietnamese military has a troll army and Facebook is its weapon (Rest of the World)
• John Samples on The Oversight Board and Content Moderation - Publications(The Technology Policy Institute)
• Misunderstanding Misinformation (Issues in Science and Technology)
• The challenges in moderating information regarding eating disorders (2012)  (Trust and Safety Foundation Project)

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