(Jewish Group) Meta's Oversight Board urges improved distinction between hate speech and criticism..

[Behind the Aegis]

Meta’s Oversight Board urges improved distinction between hate speech and criticism of hate speech

In January, a Turkish Instagram user posted part of an interview with Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, making statements in praise of Hitler and denying the Holocaust as well — and swiftly had the post removed from the social media platform.

But that wasn’t a success story for Meta’s efforts to keep hate speech off Instagram, the company’s Oversight Board has ruled. That’s because the Ye interview was accompanied by a reaction video of a reporter condemning his comments and sharing a family link to Holocaust victims.

Meta’s hate-speech detection system failed to grasp that the user was criticizing Ye, not endorsing him. So the company removed the post, accusing the user of violating its hate speech policies.

Now, the Oversight Board, an independent body tasked with reviewing Meta’s content moderation decisions, says the owner of Facebook and Instagram should improve its efforts to distinguish posts that promulgate hate from ones that aim to combat it. Too often, the board explained in a summary of its decision, human and automated moderators flag posts that are meant to educate against hate and antisemitism.

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