Expanding Free Expression Across Cultural and Civic Discourse

UPDATED

FEB 26, 2025

In February 2023, Meta consulted the Board on whether to continue removing content using the Arabic term "shaheed" (شهيد) when referencing a designated individual under the Dangerous Organizations and Individuals Community Standard. "Shaheed" is an honorific term with various meanings, including referring to those who die honorably or unexpectedly. In its policy advisory opinion the Board found Meta's approach overly broad, restricting free expression. The Board recommended that Meta should stop presuming that using "shaheed" to reference a designated individual is always violating, but rather that this content should be removed only when accompanied by signals of violence or other policy violations.

What was the impact of Meta’s implementation of this recommendation?

In response to the Board's recommendation, the Board published their independent evaluation of Meta’s approach to the Arabic term “shaheed” and how it was impacting the free expression of millions of users. After the policy change, the Board’s data team used the Meta Content Library data to identify an increase of 10% in content with the word “shaheed” on Facebook. This increase reflects the updated policy approach of allowing people to use the word "shaheed" when their content does not contain signals of violence and does not praise dangerous individuals or organizations, such as terrorists.