Meta's top guiding body, the Oversight Board, announced earlier...A rulingRegarding a manipulated video involving former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, the committee ruled that Meta's decision to "keep the video" was correct, but also demanded that Meta improve its labeling and censorship mechanisms.
This ruling means that even clearly misleading protest videos may still be welcomed by the Meta platform under certain conditions and may not necessarily be forcibly removed.
Serbian protests were misrepresented as "pro-Duterte" marches.
The controversial video altered footage of a protest that actually took place in Serbia, using post-production techniques (adding the slogan "Duterte" and the audio of the Filipino anti-martial law song "Bayan Ko") to make it appear as a pro-Duterte rally in the Netherlands. The video was uploaded just days after Duterte's extradition to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in March 2025, and garnered approximately 100,000 views and hundreds of shares on the Meta service platform.
Although Meta's automated system flagged it as a potential error message and reduced its reach to non-US users, the sheer volume of posts at the time meant that while the video was placed on the content review list, it was never manually reviewed. It wasn't until a user reported it and appealed Meta's decision to "retain content" that the oversight committee intervened.
The committee believes that items should be labeled "high risk" rather than deleted, and calls for the establishment of an independent verification queue.
Despite the video's content being completely false, the oversight committee agreed with Meta's decision to keep it on the public shelf.
However, the committee also strongly recommended that Meta should at least give the video a "High-Risk" label. The reason given was that the video contained digital manipulation, possessed photorealistic qualities, and posed a high risk of deceiving the public during a major public event.
In addition, the committee requested Meta to improve its verification process:
• Priority review:Films of this nature should be given priority for fact-checking.
• Stand alone:It is recommended to create a "separate verification queue" for similar content.
• Tool upgrade:Provide fact-checkers with better tools to more quickly identify misleading viral media.
Switching to Community Notes? Meta-audit strategy under adjustment
In fact, Meta suspended its traditional fact-checking program in the United States in January of this year, and instead adopted a Community Notes mechanism similar to "X". Meta is currently planning to expand this system to other countries and has sought advice from the oversight committee on the expansion locations.
