Two weeks before the U.S. presidential election, the Oversight Board says it has “serious concerns” about Meta’s content moderation systems in “electoral contexts,” and that the company risks the “excessive removal of political speech” when it over-enforces its rules. The admonishment came as the board weighed in on a case involving a satirical image of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Engadget reported.
Meta originally removed the post, shared on Facebook in August, that showed an edited version of a movie poster from Dumb and Dumber. The original 1994 movie poster shows the two main characters grabbing each other’s nipples through their shirts. In the altered version, the actor’s faces were replaced by Harris and Walz.
According to the Oversight Board, Meta cited its bullying and harassment rules, which includes a provision barring “derogatory sexualized photoshops or drawings.” The social network later restored the post after it drew attention from the Oversight Board, and the company acknowledged the satirical image didn’t break its rules because it didn’t depict sexual activity.
The Oversight Board posted the following:
In August 2024, a Facebook user posted an altered picture on the poster for the 1994 comedy film “Dumb and Dumber.” In the altered image, the faces of the actors are replaced with the U.S. presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
As in the original poster, the two figures are grabbing each other’s nipples through their clothing. The content was posted with a caption that included the emoji 🤷♂️🖕🖕. Meta initially removed the user’s post from Facebook under its Bullying and Harassment Community Standard, which prohibits “derogatory sexualized photoshop or drawings.”
After the user appealed Meta’s decision to remove their content to the Board, the Board brought this case to the company’s attention. Meta then determined its removal was incorrect, restoring the post to Facebook.
The Washington Times reported Meta’s Oversight Board rebuked the tech giant Wednesday after the company removed a satirical post depicting Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as the duo from the film “Dumb and Dumber.”
The Oversight Board, which operates independently from Meta, ruled that the company acted rashly by removing the post writing that it was obviously a political parody.
“This post is nothing more than a commonplace satirical image of prominent politicians and is instantly recognizable as such,” the board ruled.
Meta’s justification for taking down the post was that it violated the platform’s rule against derogatory sexualized photoshops. The rule is intended to target deep-fake pornography of non consenting parties. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, restored the image once it was informed that the Oversight board would investigate the incident.
In my opinion, this satirical image of Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz was created by someone who clearly didn’t like either one of them. The movie “Dumb and Dumber” was released in 1994, which indicates the age of the person who posted this on Facebook.