Calls for Facebook to ban old SA flag

The SA Human Rights Commission(HRC) has added its voice to others who requested tech giant Meta to ban the display of the old SA flag on social media, Netwerk24 reports. Meta embarked on a public consultation process last month on the decision of its moderators not to remove two posts that allegedly romanticised apartheid. The posts were made in the run-up to the elections. The one depicted an old photo of a soldier with the old flag over his shoulders with the caption: ‘served under this flag’. Three Facebook users reported it as hate speech, but Meta’s moderators rejected the complaints. The HRC says in its submission to Meta’s review board that there is deep concern about the impact of symbols on social cohesion. The other post was of several ‘nostalgic’ images of old sweets, a park, toy gun, a black ice cream seller on a bicycle, and the old SA flag suggesting a ‘yearning for the past’. Facebook received 184 complaints. The HRC cites a judgment of the SCA which found the display of the old flag in public to be hate speech. The HRC further argues that Facebook, as intermediary for the messages, may be held liable in terms of SA law. For this reason, the HRC argues, Meta’s community guidelines ought to be amended to ban posts explicitly depicting symbols of hate, but also ‘hidden hate speech’. Public participation is closed and Meta’s review board is yet to make a determination.