Meta’s supervisory board is considering the fate of the Arabic word, which is regularly identified in company policy as terrorist content. This is the word “shahid”, which has become especially popular among journalists in the 21st century. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, it started to take place in the press and on the internet with the emergence of social networks.

what is known

Martyrs who died for their faith are called martyrs, which is translated from Arabic as “witness”. It is mostly used among Muslims, but among Orthodox Arabs it also refers to Christian martyrs.

As Meta points out, this word means removing more content, than others. But moderators have problems and other difficulties in interpreting context.

According to DIO (Dangerous Individuals and Organizations Policy), Meta prohibits “organizations or individuals who engage in or engage in a violent mission” on their platforms, such as terrorists or hate groups. It also does not allow the publication of content containing “praise, financial support or representation” for these institutions and individuals.

We currently consider the word “martyr” a clear compliment when used in relation to those individuals and remove such content when we notice it. We do not remove the word “Martyr” when used alone or to refer to people who are not on the list,
– they write on the company’s blog.

So the problem is seen in this word denoting a righteous person killed by an evil. Therefore, if used in connection with terrorists, it automatically means that the person who wrote the post praised the criminal and acknowledged that he died for a good cause, especially faith.

But the company realized that the word is often used respectfully for non-terrorists. For example, when a person dies as a result of an accident, conflict or war. Therefore, Meta asked the Supervisory Board for advice on this matter.

The company offers three options:

• The first leaves the rule in effect – the word continues to be removed from social networks.
• The second option allows the word to be used in relation to a dangerous person, unless the user praises that person. Here it is recommended to define specific contexts: news, neutral discussion, academic and so on.
• Third, remove content that uses “martyr” to refer to a designated dangerous person only if there is additional praise, financial support, images or signs of violence.

The Supervisory Board has not yet made a decision. Meta asks the public to share their personal views on this matter.