Facebook Oversight Board Upholds Social Network Decision To Restore Deleted Content

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) The Oversight board has affirmed Facebook's decision to restore the content a user from Egypt shared on his page after it was removed by the social network's moderators due to alleged threat of violence found in it, the Board said on Tuesday.

"The Oversight Board agrees that Facebook was correct to reverse its original decision to remove content on Facebook that shared a news post about a threat of violence from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades," the Board said in a press release. "The Board concludes that removing the content did not reduce offline harm and restricted freedom of expression on an issue of public interest."

The Board found that on May 10, a Facebook user from Egypt shared a post that was initially published by Al Jazeera Arabic page with a photo portraying two men with covered faces and wearing headbands with the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian group Hamas.

After review, Facebook removed the content for violating its Dangerous Organizations and Individuals Community Standard. The user appealed this case to the Oversight Board.

Facebook then changed its original decision to remove the content after the case was selected by the Board as it found that the post didn't contain praise, support or representation of the Al-Qassam Brigades or Hamas, both of which are designated as dangerous by the social network, the release said.

Facebook was unable to explain why the content moderators made the decision to delete it, the release added.