The board said on Thursday that Meta's original decision to
leave up the Facebook video, which featured a Brazilian general calling people
to "hit the streets," raised concerns about the effectiveness of the
company's election integrity efforts.
"In this case, the speaker's intent, the content of the
speech and its reach, as well as the likelihood of imminent harm ... all
justified removing the post," said the Oversight Board, whose
recommendations are not binding on Meta.
After initially letting the video stay up, Meta took it down
on January 20, after the board selected the case.
The company's election preparedness efforts are in focus as
the United States prepares for the presidential elections next year.
Meta's Facebook and Instagram, two of the most popular
social media sites in the world, have been in the past used to spread
misinformation and incite violence on the ground.
In 2020, the company said that its platforms were used by
certain Russian groups to influence U.S. voters during the 2016 elections,
where Republican Donald Trump emerged victorious.
The company was also among the social media platforms that
suspended Trump in 2021 after the deadly January 6 Capitol Hill riot,
determining he had incited violence. The former U.S. president was reinstated
earlier this year.
Meta, in a response to the board, said that it does not
currently have metrics for measuring the success of its election integrity
efforts generally.
The Oversight Board was created in late 2020 to review
Facebook and Instagram's decisions on taking down or leaving up certain content
and make rulings on whether to uphold or overturn the social media company's
actions. © Reuters