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Posts Sharing Speeches in Syrian Conflict
ÚLTIMA ACTUALIZACIÓN 2 OCT. 2025
Today, May 13, 2025, the Oversight Board selected a case bundle appealed by Facebook users regarding two pieces of content related to Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group designated as a terrorist organization by the UN Security Council.
The first piece of content concerns an image posted by an administrator of a public page. The image contains a photograph of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of HTS who later became Syria's interim president, and Arabic text appearing to be an excerpt from a speech he gave that day. In the speech, he congratulated revolutionary soldiers, praised them for releasing prisoners, and encouraged them to continue fighting to liberate Syria, including a statement urging them to "not waste a single bullet except in the chests of your enemy, for Damascus awaits you."
The second piece of content concerns a short video in Arabic posted by a user who self-identified as a journalist. The video shows a speech by Abu Zubair al-Shami, an HTS commander dressed in military fatigues and wearing a face covering. The speech quotes the Quran, cites crimes committed by the Assad regime, celebrates the revolution, and includes a direct statement to Assad's forces that "you have no choice but to be killed, flee or defect."
Meta took down both pieces of content for violating our Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy, which prohibits glorification, support, or representation of terrorist organizations, including those designated by the U.S. government as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). Meta later determined that both posts also violated our Violence and Incitement policy, which prohibits threatening or calling for violence that could lead to death.
We will implement the Board's decision once it has finished deliberating, and will update this post accordingly. Please see the Board's website for the decision when they issue it.
Read the board’s case selection summary
Case decision
We welcome the Oversight Board's decision on this case. The Board overturned Meta's decision to remove both pieces of content from Facebook.
Meta will comply with the Board's decision within 7 days and reinstate both pieces of content under the newsworthiness allowance.
When it is technically and operationally possible to do so, we will also take action on content that is identical and in the same context as this case. For more information, please see our Newsroom post about how we implement the Board's decisions.
After conducting a review of the recommendations provided by the Board, we will update this post with initial responses.