Facebook's oversight board overturns decision to remove the post

 Facebook's oversight board overturns decision to remove the post

• Oversight board says the post in a group created for Indian Muslims should be restored 'pending user notification and consent'
• Facebook had taken down the post for violating its Violence and Incitement community standards, but the board didn’t believe it was likely to cause harm

Facebook’s new oversight board on Friday overturned a decision by the social network to remove a post, in what is its first ruling on a case of content takedown in India.

The board said that the post in a group created for Indian Muslims should be restored “pending user notification and consent".

Facebook had taken down the post in October last year.

It also said Facebook should consider the intent and identity of the user, as well as their audience and the wider context.

The post in question is of a Turkish television character dressed in leather armor and holding a sheathed sword.

The text overlay in Hindi reads: “If the tongue of the kafir starts against the Prophet, then the sword should be taken out of the sheath".

The meme contained hashtags referring to French President Emmanuel Macron as the devil and called for a boycott of French products

Facebook took down the post for violating its Violence and Incitement community standards, but the board didn’t believe it was likely to cause harm.

“They questioned Facebook’s rationale, which indicated that threats of violence against Muslims increased Facebook’s sensitivity to such threats, but also increased sensitivity when moderating content from this group," the board said in a blog post.

Further, the board noted that people have the right to seek, receive and impart ideas and opinions “of all kinds" under international human rights standards.

This includes opinions that may be controversial or deeply offensive.

“As such, a majority considered that just as people have the right to criticize religions or religious figures, religious people also have the right to express offense at such expression," the board said.

It said Facebook’s “process and criteria for determining veiled threats" isn’t explained to its users in the company’s community standards.