In response to an ongoing case involving a high-profile Instagram user
who was banned for threatening a female journalist, Meta’s Oversight Board stated Thursday that Meta’s ban raises “serious questions” with regard to “due process
concerns” about the tech giant’s account deactivation process.
The Oversight Board was in agreement with the ban of the user, who had violated multiple Community Standards —
including posting visual threats of violence, anti-gay slurs against politicians, content depicting sexual acts, and racist content.
The Oversight Board provided recommendations for ways that
Meta can improve its transparency efforts in the process of banning harmful accounts and highlighted potential improvements, such as streamlining the “strikes” system across Meta’s
different social apps. This applies a number of strikes for violations prior to account deactivation.
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For example, accounts can receive temporary deactivations after repeated “strikes”
on Facebook, but the same penalties do not apply to Instagram, which restricts accounts from livestreaming, a feature that is not even available to accounts with less than 1,000 followers.
“For violations in permanent posts, a penalty that directly corresponds to violating behavior by suspending a user’s ability to post (e.g., by putting their account in read-only mode for a
set period) would have a greater chance of influencing behavior,” the Board stated.
The Board also highlighted other potential inconsistencies and issues with Meta’s account bans.
“Many commenters wrote about systems failing to work, saying they were unable to appeal Meta’s decision to disable their account, that they never received any explanation for why their
account was disabled or that they were unable to download their content,” the Board said, adding: “Many of these users also noted that the decisions appeared to have been made automatically,
with no human oversight, even on appeals against the disabling of longstanding and widely followed accounts.”
The Board also found that Meta fails to provide banned accounts with
“meaningful assistance” and should provide a more effective appeals process that offers an opportunity for written explanations.
To address some of these concerns, the Board
recommended setting up a designated dashboard where Meta users can review their account statistics, violations, the role AI plays in moderating their posts, and information about appealing.
“We welcome the Oversight Board’s decision on this case,” a statement from Meta read, adding: “The Board upheld Meta’s decision to permanently disable an account. After conducting
a review of the recommendations provided by the Board, we will update this post with initial responses to those recommendations.”
Meta’s Oversight Board has received funding through 2028, the company announced
last week.
