Meta has a lot of work to do when it comes to throttling hate speech on its platforms. Now it is Supervisory Board is investigating the company’s decision to ban an account for, among other things, posting violent visual threats and harassment against a journalist – and is seeking public input.
In the year before the ban, Meta returned five posts due to violations of its community standards regarding hateful conduct, bullying and harassment, violence and incitement, and adult nudity and sexual activity. In addition to posts harassing the journalist, the user also shared “anti-gay slurs against prominent politicians and content depicting a sexual act, alleging misconduct against minorities.”
Meta’s internal experts decided to permanently deactivate the account due to constant violations and calls for violence. This measure was taken despite the number of strikes not reaching the ban threshold — Meta’s advice states that even seven strikes only result in users being banned for one day. However, it is account health page gives examples of when it will disable accounts, including violating its community standards due to “imminent risk of harm” to an individual.
The Council is now seeking public input until 11:59 p.m. PT on Tuesday, February 3. The Council is specifically solicit feedback of people who can “provide valuable perspectives” on the following topics:
How to best ensure due process and fairness to people whose accounts are penalized or permanently disabled.
The effectiveness of measures used by social media platforms to protect public figures and journalists from accounts engaging in repeated abuse and threats of violence, particularly against women in the public eye.
The challenges of identifying and considering off-platform context when assessing threats against public figures and journalists.
Research on the effectiveness of punitive measures in shaping online behavior and the effectiveness of alternative or complementary interventions.
Industry best practices for transparent reporting on account recovery decisions and associated appeals.
This is the first time the Board has considered Meta’s permanent account deactivation. He said this “represents an important opportunity to provide users with greater transparency about Meta’s account control policies and practices, make recommendations for improvement, and expand the types of cases the Board can review.”
This article was originally published on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/metas-oversight-board-is-looking-into-transparency-around-disabling-accounts-145757717.html?src=rss
