Meta restores Instagram video of sexual assault on a woman citing newsworthiness in content

Social media major Meta's oversight board has upheld company's decision to restore a video of sexual assault allegedly on a tribal woman by a group of men on Instagram citing newsworthiness in the content, the board said on Wednesday.

In March 2022, an Instagram account describing itself as a platform for Dalit perspectives posted a video from India showing a woman being assaulted by a group of men.

Sharing details of the case, the board said that the woman's face is not visible in the video and the text accompanying the video states that a "tribal woman" was sexually assaulted and harassed by a group of men in public, and that the video went viral.

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The account which posted the video has around 30,000 followers, mostly located in India.

"The board has upheld Meta's decision to restore a post to Instagram containing a video of a woman being sexually assaulted by a group of men. The board has found that Meta's 'newsworthiness allowance' is inadequate in resolving cases such as this at scale and that the company should introduce an exception to its adult sexual exploitation policy," the board said in the decision copy.

After a user reported about the post, Meta removed it for violating the adult sexual exploitation policy which prohibits content that 'depicts, threatens or promotes sexual violence, sexual assault or sexual exploitation'.

A Meta employee flagged the content removal via an internal reporting channel upon learning about it on Instagram.

Meta's internal teams then reviewed the content and applied a "newsworthiness allowance" which allows otherwise violating content to remain on Meta's platforms if it is newsworthy and in the public interest.

Meta restored the content, placing the video behind a warning screen which prevents anyone under the age of 18 from viewing it, and later referred the case to the oversight board.

"The board finds that restoring the content to the platform, with the warning screen, is consistent with Meta's values and human rights responsibilities," the board said.

The board said that the video does not include explicit content or nudity, and the majority of the board members found that the victim is not identifiable.

"The warning screen, which prevents people under 18 from viewing the video, helps to protect the dignity of the victim, and protects children and victims of sexual harassment from exposure to disturbing or traumatising content," the board said.