Meta’s Oversight Board Lifts Ban on Arabic Word: Learn More

Meta’s supervisory board has asked the company to end its ban on the Arabic word “Shaheed,” which roughly translates to martyr in English.

The commission’s extensive year-long review revealed that Meta’s current blanket ban on the word “shaheed,” which it had said could glorify or condone terrorism, “has led to widespread and unnecessary censorship that affects the free speech of millions of users.”

“Meta should end the blanket ban on ‘shaheed’ because it has had a discriminatory and disproportionate impact on free speech and information sharing, which has heightened concerns that the word could have been used to promote terrorism,” the government said. The government acknowledged that Meta’s “approach would may have caused the content to be deleted incorrectly”.

“Terrorism destroys human lives and destabilizes the structure of our societies, but it is harmful to prevent journalists from reporting on terrorist groups and limit people’s opportunities to discuss and condemn the violence they see around them just because of one word,” said Helle Thorning-Schmidt, chair of the supervisory board, in a statement.

Meta conducted a policy review on moderation of the “shaheed” program in 2020, but was unable to decide how to proceed and asked the government to intervene in 2023.

The independent body expanded its investigation to see how people use Meta’s platforms and then in the context of the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, followed by Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the government also proposed removing “shaheed” only “when it involves a clear sign of violence (such as depicting weapons) or when it otherwise violates Meta rules (for example, glorifying a named person)”.

Here it says that “the most harmful material will be removed, while minimizing the possibility of intentionally or accidentally removing inoffensive content sent around the world.”