Videos Criticizing a Turkish Government Official’s Response to the Turkey Earthquake

UPDATED

AUG 23, 2023

2023J

Today, the Oversight Board selected a case bundle appealed by Facebook and Instagram users regarding three videos (two posted to Facebook and one to Instagram) which all depict a member of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party criticizing a prominent member of the Republican People’s Party for their response to the earthquake centered in the Kahramanmaraş province that took place on February 6, 2023. In each of the videos, the criticism includes a phrase (“İngiliz uşağı”) which Meta translates to “Servant of the English.”

Upon initial review, Meta took down this content for violating our policy on Hate Speech, as laid out in our Instagram Community Guidelines and Facebook Community Standards. At the time, Meta considered the phrase “İngiliz uşağı” to be a slur in the Turkish market. However, upon additional review, we determined that the phrase “İngiliz uşağı” is not currently used as a slur. The phrase “İngiliz uşağı” has since been removed from our slur list and the content has been restored.

We will implement the board’s decision once it has finished deliberating, and we will update this post accordingly. Please see the board’s website for the decision when they issue it.

Case decision

We welcome the Oversight Board’s decision today on this case bundle. The board overturned Meta’s original decisions to remove the three pieces of content from Facebook and Instagram. Meta will act to comply with the board's decision and reinstate the content within 7 days.

After conducting a review of the recommendations provided by the board in addition to their decision, we will update this page.