Meta Company, managing Facebook and Instagram, enables the placement of content related to the image of Ratko Mladić through its paid advertising system, who is convicted of genocide and other war crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Such content moves from commercial sales of clothing items with Mladić’s image to posts that glorify his name or bring into question his responsibility for war crimes. Some of the ads were removed only after the journalists pointed out their content, detektor.ba reports.
Shirts Featuring Mladić’s Image as Commercial Product
Among the ads popping up on Facebook and Instagram, the ad from the “Otacastvo” page was one of them. The page used Mladić’s image to promote and sell shirts. The ad was quickly removed following the press inquiry.
The “Otacastvo” stated that they have about 30 different motifs and that Mladić’s image represents only one of those motifs.
“Your citizens can be posed the same question; they are closer to you. I don’t send any message to buyers or anyone; a shirt is a piece of clothing which people buy according to their taste. No message is being sent to buyers, nor are any victims demeaned,” stated “Otacastvo.”
The Ads Featuring Mladić Have Appeared Before
This is not an isolated case. Other paid content related to a former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska was also recorded.
The ad of the “Povest Srba” page was active from August 28, while the “Vožd” page launched an ad which directly promoted the shirt featuring Mladić’s image on August 31. The “Vožd” couldn’t respond to press inquiries.
Previously, the “Crvena Pravda” page problematized the acceptance of the Hague Tribunal verdicts via paid advertisement. According to Meta data, the ad was active from 13 to 15 November, 2021, and had between 10,000 and 15, 000 views in that period.
The then mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, promoted his views on a mural of Ratko Mladić in Belgrade via paid advertisement. His ad was active on 25th and 26th July, 2022, and according to metadata, it had between 30, 000 and 35, 000 views.
Although some of these advertisements are no longer active, their appearance on multiple occasions raised the question about the way in which Meta recognizes and moderates content glorifying war criminals.
Automated Systems Do Not Always Recognize Problematic Content
Feđa Kulenović from the Coalition for Freedom of Expression and Content Moderation in Bosnia and Herzegovina explained that a big part of the moderation process on platforms is automated.
According to him, automated systems have a limited ability to recognize content that is problematic due to context. As an example, he points to the use of a specific person’s image on t-shirts, which the system may treat merely as commercial content.
Kulenović believes that for this reason Meta relies heavily on users who report content they consider to be in violation of the platform’s rules.
“Essentially, they are trying to optimize the process by automating it, but automation never resolves all these edge cases. If these were reported now, they would remove it,” Kulenović states.
AI Commercial Featuring Mladić Removed Following the Press Inquiry
The limitation of such a system is seen in the case of the Fashion Brand “28.6” from Belgrade.
Its video used the image of Ratko Mladić, generated with artificial intelligence, to promote sunglasses of the Ray-Ban brand.
AI-generated version of Mladić was presented as a model who wears sunglasses, with the background song “Push It to the Limit” from the “Scarface” movie.
The inscription “Collection 1995” on the shirt worn by the figure in the ad drew particular attention, due to the connection of that year with the genocide committed in Srebrenica.
Following the press inquiry, Meta confirmed the content was removed because it violated internal company rules. Meta stated that their rules prohibit the glorification of dangerous individuals, as well as the infringement of third-party intellectual property rights.
Before it got removed, the ad achieved significant reach on Facebook. More than 2, 000 reactions, dozens of shares, and hundreds of comments were recorded, which also included a significant number of support messages for Mladić or downplaying the crimes of which he was convicted.
“The issue of Automated Systems is in context”
Kulenović warns that automated systems find it difficult to assess the meaning of the contents when the same terms or images are used in different contexts.
“That’s the problem of automated systems. They cannot say ‘if Ratko Mladić and these terms repeat in the posts, it is problematic.’ You would then have to play cat and mouse and think which words can be used in the context of the name Ratko Mladić. This is where the issue arises,” Kulenović explained.
According to him, Meta relies heavily on user reports and their, as he puts it, free labor to point out problematic posts.
In the case of content determined to contain elements of a criminal offense, such information may be forwarded to the police.
Public Ad Library Allows Insight into Companies
Kulenović considers positive the existence of the system in which certain content is labeled as “social and political,” although he believes this label is sometimes used too broadly.
He also emphasized the significance of the Meta Ad Library, a public ad repository where it is possible to check which ads have been placed by specific pages and users.
“Meta could solve this and many other problems, but has no interest in investing the money,” Kulenović concluded.
Meta was contacted again regarding the ads featuring Mladić’s image, but had not responded to the inquiry by the time of publication.
Mladić Convicted to Life Imprisonment
Ratko Mladić, former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a final and binding verdict in June 2021.
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals confirmed his responsibility for genocide committed in Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats, the terrorizing of the population of Sarajevo, and the taking of UNPROFOR personnel as hostages.
Mladić died on August 27 in custody in The Hague, Detektor writes.
