Improve Safeguards for Journalism in Horn of Africa
30 अकतूबर 2025
The Oversight Board has found Meta’s systems have failed to safeguard independent journalism and public interest reporting in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland. The Board analyzed the removal of a Facebook page and four pieces of content covering current affairs in Somaliland, a repressive region for journalists. The Board has overturned Meta’s decisions to take down the page and the four posts. Meta should improve its mistake prevention systems and appeal processes to ensure that journalists’ pages and their content are not wrongly removed.
About the Cases
The four cases the Board considered as part of this decision relate to a Facebook page that discusses news and events in Somaliland. The page describes itself as engaging in freelance journalism and has about 90,000 followers.
In January 2025, four posts were published on the page. Two posts are about Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullah’s recent foreign policy trips and include photos with captions stating that media coverage was prohibited. Two other posts relate to an official ceremony and a political conference in Somaliland, also with descriptive captions. The page, posts and captions were all in the Somali language.
After users reported the page, a human reviewer found that it violated Meta’s Hateful Conduct policy and it was “unpublished” i.e. the page was removed. The reviewer also removed the four posts for violating the same policy. The page administrator’s account received a strike.
The page administrator appealed Meta’s decision to remove the page and, separately, the removal of the four posts. The appeals covering the four posts were reviewed by six human reviewers, including the reviewer who made the original decisions, and the decisions were upheld. Meta’s systems did not prioritise the page decision for review and the appeal was automatically closed, with the page remaining unpublished. The page administrator then appealed to the Board.
When the Board selected the cases for review, Meta reversed all of its initial decisions, reinstating the page and four posts, and removing the strike. The Board identified 10 more appeals from Somaliland relating to content removals, which Meta confirmed were in error and reinstated.
Though considered by the Federal Republic of Somalia to be a constituent province, Somaliland declared its independence in 1991 but has not gained international recognition. Somalia is amongst the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, including Somaliland, where authorities are repressive towards and put enormous pressure on local media, according to media freedom organizations.
Key Findings
The Board finds that there was no justification under any of Meta’s content policies to take down the Facebook page and posts. No elements of the page were violating and the removal was entirely arbitrary. Removing the content was inconsistent with Meta’s human rights responsibilities.
Digital platforms, such as Facebook, are essential spaces for independent journalists in Somaliland to disseminate news and connect with domestic and international audiences. Arbitrary removal of content has serious detrimental effects on freedom of expression in the region and inadvertently contributes to the hostile environment for journalists. Unpublishing pages can be highly consequential, particularly for journalists, and such decisions should get further review before enforcement.
The cross-check system, consisting of the General Secondary Review (GSR) and the Sensitive Entity Secondary Review (SSR), which should have flagged reviews in these cases, did not sufficiently prioritize the fact that the page was engaged in freelance reporting. Two other mistake prevention systems should have been activated but were either not used fully or at all.
Meta’s failure to include the page in its cross-check system points to a potential broader systemic problem. The Board is particularly concerned that the system to prevent overenforcement did not prioritize public interest journalists working in the Somali language. This is especially relevant following Meta’s announcement in January that its new approach to content moderation should have “more speech and fewer mistakes.” Meta’s Journalist Registration Program, which provides enhanced security protections, does not cover Somalia, including Somaliland, and could have helped in this case.
Meta lacks a single, centralized resource documenting its content policies covering pages raising clarity and transparency issues.
The Oversight Board’s Decision
The Board overturns Meta’s decisions to unpublish the page and remove the four pieces of content.
The Board also recommends that Meta:
- Consolidate the rules and enforcement guidelines covering pages into a comprehensive and easily accessible resource in the Transparency Center.
- Prohibit human reviewers who make an enforcement decision from reviewing any appeal on that decision.
- Update its GSR ranking system to explicitly prioritize reviews of unpublication of pages.
- Develop new criteria and systems to proactively enrol pages or accounts engaged in journalism in regions where media freedom is repressed based on authoritative sources like the Committee to Protect Journalists’ impunity index.
Further Information
To read public comments for this case, click here.
