Facebook to update its policies on how it handles satirical content

	
Facebook will clarify what qualifies as satire during its assessment. 
	
The development comes after the Oversight Board overruled Facebook’s decision to remove a post related to the Turkish government. 


American multinational technology giant Facebook Inc. has recently decided to update its community standards to be more transparent on what comes under its satirical content and how it handles it.

The popular social media company reportedly stated that it will add information to the Community Standards that make it clearer where satire is considered as a part of its assessment of context-specific decisions. This change will let teams take satire into account while assessing possible Hate Speech violations.

As per the credible sources, the company’s decision was recommended by its Oversight Board which directed that Facebook was wrong when it removed a comment with a meme depicting the Turkish government.

For the unversed, Facebook’s Oversight Board is an independent body set up to assist Facebook in moderating its content and figuring out what content can be allowed on the platform and what needs to be removed. It started its official operations in October 2020 with 20 members.

Facebook took down the post related to the Turkish Government considering its 'Cruel and Insensitive Community Standard' mentioning that it will remove posts that include memes and gifs that target the victims of serious physical or emotional harm.

Facebook then reclassified the deletion of the post so that it came under its category of 'Hate Speech Community Standard', cited sources close to the matter.

Not long after, the Oversight Board drew attention to the point that while Facebook stated to make exceptions for satire, it doesn’t explicitly state how or what is considered as satire in its guidelines.

As a response, Facebook mentioned that besides making its guidelines related to satire clearer and transparent, it would also initiate an evaluation of identical content with parallel context with further action.

Source Credits:

https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/facebook-to-update-its-community-standards-clarify-how-it-handles-satirical-content-71624181257299.html