Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
---

Title: The Oversight Board calls Meta's uneven AI moderation 'incoherent and
unjustifiable'

Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:00:56 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-ove...

As Meta's platforms fill up with more AI-generated content, the company still
has a lot of work to do when it comes to enforcing its policies around
manipulated media. The Oversight Board is once again criticizing the social
media company over its handling of such posts, writing in its latest decision
that its inability to enforce its rules consistently is "incoherent and
unjustifiable."

If that sounds familiar, it's because this is the second time since last year
the Oversight Board has used the word "incoherent" to describe Meta's
approach to manipulated media. The board had previously urged Meta to update
its rules after a misleadingly edited video of Joe Biden went viral on
Facebook. In response, Meta said it would expand its use of labels to
identify AI-generated content and that it would apply more prominent labels
in "high risk" situations. These labels, like the one below, note when a post
was created or edited using AI.

An example of a label when Meta determines a piece of Ai-manipulated content
is "high risk."Screenshot (Meta)

This approach is still falling short though, the board said. "The Board is
concerned that, despite the increasing prevalence of manipulated content
across formats, MetaΓÇÖs enforcement of its manipulated media policy is
inconsistent," it said in its latest decision. "MetaΓÇÖs failure to
automatically apply a label to all instances of the same manipulated media is
incoherent and unjustifiable."

The statement came in a decision related to a post that claimed to feature
audio of two politicians in Iraqi Kurdistan. The supposed "recorded
conversation" included a discussion about rigging an upcoming election and
other "sinister plans" for the region. The post was reported to Meta for
misinformation, but the company closed the case "without human review," the
board said. Meta later labeled some instances of the audio clip but not the
one originally reported.

The case, according to the board, is not an outlier. Meta apparently told the
board that it can't automatically identify and apply labels to audio and
video posts, only to "static images." This means multiple instances of the
same audio or video clip may not get the same treatment, which the board
notes could cause further confusion. The Oversight Board also criticized Meta
for often relying on third-parties to identify AI-manipulated video and
audio, as it did in this case.

"Given that Meta is one of the leading technology and AI companies in the
world, with its resources and the wide usage of MetaΓÇÖs platforms, the Board
reiterates that Meta should prioritize investing in technology to identify
and label manipulated video and audio at scale," the board wrote. "It is not
clear to the Board why a company of this technical expertise and resources
outsources identifying likely manipulated media in high-risk situations to
media outlets or Trusted Partners."

In its recommendations to Meta, the board said the company should adopt a
"clear process" for consistently labeling "identical or similar content" in
situations when it adds a "high risk" label to a post. The board also
recommended that these labels should appear in a language that matches the
rest of their settings on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

Meta didn't respond to a request for comment. The company has 60 days to
respond to the board's recommendations.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-ove...
ai-moderation-incoherent-and-unjustifiable-100056893.html?src=rss

---
VRSS v2.1.180528