Shaheed is the "most moderated" word on Facebook, but Meta will no longer ban it

The complete ban did not take into account the linguistic complexity of the Arabic word "shaheed," which has multiple meanings in translation.

Meta has long applied a policy of full ban on the word "shaheed," which has become the most moderated in the company's applications, primarily on Facebook. However, in accordance with the recommendations of the oversight board, Meta will lift this restriction— considering that the word has multiple meanings depending on the context.

"Shaheed" translates literally as "witness" or "martyr for faith" for Muslims and Orthodox Arabs, and is commonly used in that sense (unfortunately, in Ukraine this word has a completely different meaning)

According to the oversight board report, Meta's previous policy did not account for the "linguistic complexity," leading to a disproportionate number of post deletions with the word — especially among Arabic-speaking users who "were subjected to unfair censorship."

The oversight board welcomes today's announcement by Meta that it will implement our recommendations and make changes to the unfair policy that has led to the censorship of millions of people on its platforms," the board's statement said. "The changes will apply a more nuanced approach to moderation."

Questions about the content moderation system on Facebook arise regularly — from Ukraine, they have increased after the full-scale invasion, when the social network began blocking Ukrainians for posts about the war. However, the company has failed to combat the influx of Russian propaganda and bots — despite the Ministry of Digital Transformation's personal appeal in July 2022.