Meta urged to update rules which allowed altered video casting Biden as paedophile on Facebook

With United States presidential elections just months away, Meta’s Oversight Board, on Monday (Feb 5) has determined a Facebook video wrongfully suggesting that United States President Joe Biden is a paedophile does not violate the company’s current rules, while also deeming the said rules as “incoherent”. 

About the case

The oversight board, which is funded by Meta but runs independently, made a decision about the edited video of the US president which shows him with his adult granddaughter, manipulated to falsely appear that he inappropriately touched her chest. 

The clip went viral last year prompting Facebook parent company Meta’s independent Supreme Court-style body of journalists, academics and politicians to open an investigation. 

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The investigation is said to be the first of its kind into Meta’s “manipulated media” policies when the distorted version of a video during the 2022 midterm elections showing Biden placing an “I Voted” sticker on his adult granddaughter’s chest and kissing her on the cheek went viral. 

The clip was reported to the social media giant and its oversight board as hate speech. Meta’s current “manipulated media” bars certain types of doctored videos but only if they were produced by AI or make people appear to say words they never actually said. 

The hearing comes amid concerns about using AI to influence the outcome of the elections as 2024 is a historic year with more than two billion people across the world set to go to the polls in 50 countries, including the US and India. 

What did the board find?

The board found that the platform was technically correct to leave the video online as in the US president’s case “the video was not manipulated using artificial intelligence nor did it depict Biden saying something he did not.”

However, also the board said that the policy which allowed the clip to stay on the platform “is lacking in persuasive justification, is incoherent and confusing to users, and fails to clearly specify the harms it is seeking to prevent.” 

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It suggested that Meta update the rule to cover both audio and video content, regardless of whether AI was used. Additionally, it also urged the company to apply labels identifying the content as manipulated but stopped short of calling for the policy to apply to photographs. 

The board insisted that “non-AI-altered content is prevalent and not necessarily any less misleading” than content generated by AI tools. It also urged the company to reconsider the policy “quickly, given the number of elections in 2024.”

In a statement, Meta said it was reviewing the ruling and would respond publicly within 60 days.

(With inputs from agencies)