Intelligence Service ID Shared to Expose Crime
UPDATED SEP 23, 2026
Standard Case 2026-050-FB-UA
Today, September 22, 2026, the Oversight Board selected a case appealed by a Facebook user regarding a post sharing an image of an Ethiopian government intelligence service ID card.
In 2026, Ethiopian political activist Jawar Mohammed posted content to his Facebook Page in the Oromo language stating that an organized crime group known as "120" had been terrorizing people in Ethiopia's Oromia region, using National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) ID cards to extort them. The caption named the group's alleged leader and two individuals the user said participated in the extortions, one of whom he described as a former police officer. The post included a photograph of an NISS photo ID card displaying a name, role, photograph and phone number, alongside photographs of two men. The content was posted amid widespread allegations and media reporting about the group.
A team Meta established as part of preparations ahead of the June 2026 Ethiopian elections identified the content and referred it for expert review. Upon initial review, Meta took down this content for violating our policy on Privacy Violations, as laid out in the Community Standards, which prohibits sharing personally identifiable information and specifically prohibits sharing government IDs of law enforcement, military or security personnel. Because it was unclear whether the ID pictured was authentic, no strike or feature limit was applied to the account.
Upon additional review, we maintained that the content violated this policy. However, as the violation was limited to the image of the ID card, we restored the remainder of the post without that image.
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.