Meta oversight board finds censoring of word 'shaheed' discriminatory

The Oversight Board, the body in charge of content moderation decisions for Meta’s social media platforms, found that the company’s censoring of the Arabic word “shaheed” has had a “discriminatory impact on expression and news reporting”.

In an investigation carried out at Meta’s request, the board found that the company’s highly restrictive approach regarding “shaheed”, the most censored word on Facebook and Instagram, has led to “widespread and unnecessary censorship affecting the freedom of expression of millions of users”.

“Shaheed” has several meanings but can roughly be translated to “martyr” in English. The board has found that Meta has struggled to grapple with the linguistic complexities and religious significance attached to that word.

As the word is also used as a loan word in other languages, many (mostly Muslim) non-Arabic speakers have had their posts censored on Meta’s platforms.

Prior to the release of the board’s advisory opinion, Human Rights Watch found that Meta was guilty of “systemic censorship of Palestine content” amidst the Gaza war, which it attributed to “flawed Meta policies and their inconsistent and erroneous implementation, over-reliance on automated tools to moderate content, and undue government influence over content removals.”

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