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SAN FRANCISCO--Meta’s Oversight Board on May 16 said it would accept public opinions after the company deleted and restored a post on the Threads site that called on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to “drop dead.”

The case taken up by the Oversight Board, consisting of individuals not connected with the company formerly known as Facebook, is likely the first involving Japan.

The Oversight Board will accept comments in both English and Japanese from the public until May 30, and use them to compile recommendations it submits to Meta.

According to the Oversight Board announcement, a user in January sent a reply to a screen shot on Threads that showed a Japanese report about the political funding scandal in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as well as a statement by Kishida.

In the reply in Japanese, the user wrote that Kishida should “drop dead” and added hashtags that made fun of people wearing glasses.

A Meta employee deleted the comment because it suggested death for Kishida, a violation of the company policy regarding violence.

The user appealed the decision, but a different Meta employee also judged that the comment violated company policy.

The user contested the decision, calling it interference into freedom of speech.

After the Oversight Board decided to investigate the matter, Meta revived the user’s response on grounds the original decision to delete it was wrong.

The Oversight Board will accept comments about the political and social background in Japan that might have led to the comment, including threats of violence over the internet directed at politicians, as well as the extent to which such comments should be allowed.

Meta has adopted a policy of not aggressively promoting political posts to its Instagram and Threads sites. That decision stems from criticism directed at the company regarding the deletion of posts connected to the storming of the U.S. Capitol in January 2021.

In its announcement, the Oversight Board said it “selected this case to examine Meta’s content moderation policies and enforcement practices on political content shared on Threads.

This is particularly important, in the context of Meta’s decision not to proactively recommend political content on Threads.”

Among comments sought for by the board are how Meta’s decision “affects access to information and political speech.”

Meta has the final decision on whether to accept or reject the board’s recommendations.

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