July 2 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META ) said on

Tuesday it would lift its blanket ban on the word "shaheed", or

"martyr" in English, after a year-long review by its oversight

board found the social media giant's approach was "overbroad".

The company has been criticized for years over its handling

of content involving the Middle East, including in a 2021 study

Meta itself commissioned that found its approach had an "adverse

human rights impact" on Palestinians and other Arabic-speaking

users of its services.

Those criticisms have escalated since the onset of

hostilities between Israel and Hamas in October.

The oversight board, which is funded by Meta but operates

independently, started its review last year because the word

accounted for more content removals on the company's platforms

than any other single word or phrase.

Meta is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

The review found in March that Meta's rules on "shaheed"

failed to account for the word's variety of meanings and

resulted in the removal of content not aimed at praising violent

actions.

Meta acknowledged the findings of the review on Tuesday and

said its tests showed that removing content when "shaheed" was

"paired with otherwise violating content ​​captures the most

potentially harmful content without disproportionally impacting

the voice".

The oversight board welcomed the change, saying Meta's

policy related to the word had led to the censoring of millions

of people across its platforms.