Common sense would tell most people that it shouldn’t take two months and a committee of global progressives to figure out that Meta should allow political satire and harmless memes on its platforms. But it’s quite clear that the folks at Meta are not most people.
On Wednesday, the Meta Oversight Board overturned Facebook’s decision to censor a Dumb and Dumber meme that made fun of Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. The board rebuked Facebook’s censorship as an “overenforcement” of Meta’s community standards.
In its summary report, the Oversight Board even called out the company, saying that its “failure to recognize the nature of this post and treat it accordingly raises serious concerns about the systems and resources Meta has in place to effectively make content determinations in such electoral contexts.”
Users created a parody of the 1994 movie poster for Dumb and Dumber that superimposed the faces of Harris and Walz over the faces of actors Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. For context, the board noted, “As in the original poster, the two figures are grabbing each other’s nipples through their clothing.”
The Oversight Board explained that Facebook had initially removed the post claiming that it violated its Bullying and Harassment policy, “which prohibits ‘derogatory sexualized photoshop or drawings.’” Facebook later restored the post after the board brought it to the platform’s attention, claiming that the censorship was “incorrect” because the meme indeed did not depict “sexual activity.” No kidding, Facebook.
The Oversight Board appeared stunned that this was even a case to discuss at all as it chastised Meta for its blatant incompetence in determining what violates its own rules. “This post is nothing more than a commonplace satirical image of prominent politicians and is instantly recognizable as such,” the board wrote. [Emphasis added.]
To its credit, Meta’s Oversight Board pointed out that this kind of censorship is potentially harmful. This case “points to the dangers that overenforcing the Bullying and Harassment policy can have, especially in the context of an election,” the board wrote. The summary added that Meta’s eagerness to censor “may lead to the excessive removal of political speech and undermine the ability to criticize government officials and political candidates, including in a sarcastic manner.”
Citing multiple previous cases, the board’s report went on to scold Meta for not following the Oversight Board’s past recommendations to clarify its written policies and to improve its execution of content moderation efforts related to elections.
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