The Meta oversight board announced that the removal of two Israel-Hamasa war videos from Facebook and Instagram was a mistake. The giant tech firm shared its explanation on Tuesday, Dec. 19.
In this photo illustration, the logos of social media applications Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Messenger, Hyperlapse, and Telegram are displayed on a cellphone screen on April 26, 2023, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
To clarify things, the American social media giant didn't say that Facebook and Instagram pulled out the war videos because of a bug or accident.
But, Meta said that those videos were essential since they can help people understand and learn more about what civilians experience in the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war worsens.
Meta Oversight Board Says Israel-Hamas War Videos Removal is a Mistake
According to The Guardian's latest report, the two Israel-Hamas war videos that were removed recently were already reinstated on Instagram and Facebook.
"The Oversight Board selected these cases because of the importance of freedom of expression in conflict situations," explained the oversight board via Meta's official report.
"Both cases are representative of the types of appeals users in the region have been submitting to the Board since the October 7 attacks," added the tech giant's officials.
Meta said that one of the videos, which was posted on Instagram, showed the effects of an airstrike near the Al Shifa Hospital—the largest in Gaza.
The other footage, which was published on Facebook, was about the deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7. It specifically showed an Israeli woman begging for mercy as she asked her kidnappers not to kill her. Unfortunately, the victim was taken as a hostage.
Meta's oversight board said that it selected these two Israel-Hamas war videos for review. After their investigation, they decided to restore them. To give users a heads-up, the social media giant included a disclaimer.
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Importance of Israel-Hamas War Videos
This photo illustration created in Washington, DC, on July 6, 2023, shows the opening page of Threads, an Instagram app, near the Meta logo. More than 10 million people have signed up to Threads, Meta's rival to Twitter, within the first few hours of its launch, the company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said July 6.
Meta explained that the two Israel-Hamas war videos were restored because they are important, especially since they contain evidence of human rights violations that are happening in the Middle East.
Aside from this, Meta also said that these videos could become very important to the historical record of the Israel-Hamas conflict. To ensure that such footage will not be removed in the future, the oversight board advised the company to allow similar videos.
Board members said that Meta should consider special cases for these types of videos instead of allowing the algorithms of Instagram and Facebook to automatically take them down.
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