Meta’s Oversight Board is looking into transparency around disabling accounts

Meta has a lot of work to do when it comes to limiting hate speech on its platforms. Now, its Oversight Board is looking into the company’s decision to ban an account for, among other things, posting visual violent threats and harassment against a journalist — and it wants the public’s advice.

In the year prior to the ban, Meta referred five posts due to violations of its hateful conduct, bullying and harassment, violence and incitement and adult nudity and sexual activity community standards. In addition to the posts harassing the woman journalist, the user also shared “anti-gay slurs against prominent politicians and content depicting a sex act, alleging misconduct against minorities.”

Meta’s internal review experts decided to permanently disable the account due to the consistent violations and calls for violence. This action was taken despite the number of strikes not reaching the ban threshold — Meta’s guidance states that even seven strikes only get users a one-day ban. However, its account integrity page lays out examples of when it will disable accounts, including violating its community standards through “risk of imminent harm” to an individual.

The Board is now looking for insight from the public until 11:59PM PT on Tuesday, February 3. The Board is specifically seeking comments from individuals who can “contribute valuable perspectives” on the following topics:

• How best to 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 engaged in repeated abuse and threats of violence, in particular against women in the public eye.

• Challenges in identifying and considering off-platform context when assessing threats against public figures and journalists.

• Research into the efficacy of punitive measures to shape online behaviors, and the efficacy of alternative or complementary interventions.

• Good industry practices in transparency reporting on account enforcement decisions and related appeals.

This instance marks the first time the Board has looked into Meta permanently disabling an account. It stated that this “represents a significant opportunity to provide users with greater transparency on Meta’s account enforcement policies and practices, make recommendations for improvement, and expand the types of cases the Board can review.”