केस विवरण
In January 2025, four posts in Somali were published on a Facebook page, discussing Somaliland politics. Somaliland self-declared its independence from Somalia in 1991. No country has recognized its statehood.
The Facebook page describes itself as belonging to freelance journalism and has about 90,000 followers. It is not part of Meta’s cross-check program to prevent enforcement errors, that also includes additional levels of review for certain entities, including journalistic and civic entities. The four posts describe and discuss recent socio-political events concerning Somaliland.
Two of the posts are about Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi’s recent foreign policy engagements. The posts include photos of a foreign trip with captions stating that media coverage was prohibited. Two other posts relate to a public, official ceremony in Somaliland and a political conference, with descriptive captions.
Two users reported the page under Dangerous Organizations and Individuals and Hateful Conduct policies, and it was enqueued for a review. When a page is enqueued for review, Meta evaluates key elements of the page, such its name, bio details and cover photo, and its posts. A human reviewer found the page violated the Hateful Conduct policy and it was “unpublished” (a measure similar to account deactivation). None of the four posts were reported, but each was removed for individually violating the Hateful Conduct policy.
After the Board selected the cases, the company reviewed its initial decision to unpublish this page and also determined that it incorrectly removed all four posts. Consequently, Meta restored all posts, re-published the page and reversed the strike against the posting user’s account and page.
In their appeal to the Board, the posting user stated that their intention was to share information, not to attack or discriminate against any individual or group and that their posts did not violate the Hateful Conduct policy.
The Board selected these enforcement errors to examine the impacts of Meta’s moderation on media freedom in the Horn of Africa, in the context of its approach to the governance of pages. These cases fall within the Board’s Elections and Civic Space priority.
The Board would appreciate public comments that address:
- Media freedom and safety of journalists in Somaliland, the role of social media and the situation for freedom of expression.
- Challenges in preventing wrongful enforcement against journalistic content, pages and accounts, especially in non-English speaking regions where freedom of expression is heavily restricted.
- Good practices for ensuring access to adequate remedies for journalists and media organizations locked out of pages or accounts as a result of wrongful enforcement.
As part of its decisions, the Board can issue policy recommendations to Meta. While recommendations are not binding, Meta must respond to them within 60 days. As such, the Board welcomes public comments proposing recommendations that are relevant to these cases.
Public Comments
If you or your organization feel you can contribute valuable perspectives that can help with reaching a decision on the cases announced today, you can submit your contributions using the button below. Please note that public comments can be provided anonymously. The public comment window is open for 14 days, closing at 23.59 Pacific Standard Time (PST) on Tuesday 15 July.
What’s Next
Over the next few weeks, Board Members will be deliberating these cases. Once they have reached their decision, we will post it on the Decisions page.
