In a recent development, Meta’s (NASDAQ:META) Oversight Board has concluded that a controversial video on Facebook, falsely suggesting President Joe Biden is a pedophile does not breach the company’s current regulations. The board, however, has criticized the rules as “incoherent.”
What Happened: The Oversight Board, an independent entity funded by Meta, declared that the video’s content policy is too narrowly focused on AI-generated material and lacks a clear rationale, reported Reuters. The video, which was a seven-second altered clip of Biden during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, is the first case to be reviewed under Meta’s “manipulated media” policy.
The board has suggested that Meta extend the rule to cover audio and video content, regardless of AI usage, and apply labels identifying them as manipulated. However, it advised against extending the policy to photographs, stating that this could make it too challenging to enforce at Meta’s scale.
The policy “is lacking in persuasive justification, is incoherent and confusing to users, and fails to clearly specify the harms it is seeking to prevent”, the board said.
Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, informed the board during the review that it plans to update the policy to adapt to the evolving AI landscape. The altered video of Biden had begun to circulate as early as January 2023.
The Oversight Board affirmed Meta’s decision to keep the video up under its current policy, which prohibits misleadingly altered videos only if they are produced by AI or if they make individuals appear to say words they never actually said. The board emphasized that non-AI-altered content is equally misleading and recommended that the policy also apply to audio-only content.
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