Facebook Oversight Board Reviewing Altered Video of Biden

The Facebook Oversight Board is reviewing a manipulated video of President Joe Biden to determine whether the platform is properly handling political misinformation, the board announced Monday. A Facebook user posted an altered, seven-second video of Biden in May. The original video showed Biden participating in early in-person voting in October 2022 during the midterm elections. Biden placed an “I Voted” sticker on his granddaughter, above her chest as she requested and kissed her on the cheek. According to the board, the altered version showed a loop of the moment Biden touched his granddaughter’s chest. “The altered video plays to a short excerpt of the song ‘Simon Says’ by Pharoahe Monch, which has the lyric ‘Girls rub on your titties,’” the board said. The video’s caption said Biden is a “sick pedophile” and “mentally unwell.” A user reported the content, but Meta chose not to remove it because the company’s community standards apply to videos “generated by artificial intelligence or to those in which a subject is shown saying words they did not say,” the board said. The board selected the case to “assess whether Meta’s policies adequately cover altered videos that could mislead people into believing politicians have taken actions, outside of speech, that they have not,” the board said.