What is Facebook content moderation?

Facebook content moderation refers to the policies, processes, and tools Facebook uses to review user-generated content on its platform and decide if that content should be allowed or removed. The goal of content moderation is to balance free expression with safety, prevent harm, and create an environment where users feel empowered to communicate.

Why does Facebook moderate content?

Facebook engages in content moderation for several reasons:

To enforce Facebook’s Community Standards which outline what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook.

To comply with local laws and regulations in the over 190 countries where Facebook operates.
To quickly identify and remove content like hate speech, bullying, harassment, and other abusive behaviors that violate policy and create an unsafe environment.
To protect users from harmful or dangerous content like promotion of suicide or self-harm and known misinformation that could contribute to imminent physical harm.

To maintain the trust of advertisers who want assurance their ads won’t appear next to offensive or controversial content.
To allow for diverse views and open communication while discouraging divisiveness.

Without content moderation, Facebook runs the risk of being overrun by spam, scams, misinformation, and offensive or illegal content. Moderation aims to uphold the spirit of open exchange that connects people on Facebook.

How does Facebook moderate content?

Facebook uses a combination of people and technology to moderate content:

People

Tens of thousands of content reviewers around the world who manually review posts that are reported by users as potentially violating policy.
Specialized teams focused on counterterrorism, child safety, hate speech, suicide and self-injury, and other high-risk areas.

Native language speakers and subject matter experts to provide cultural context and understanding.
The Oversight Board – an independent body that makes binding decisions on controversial content issues.

Technology

Artificial intelligence tools that automatically flag potentially violating content for human review.

Algorithms that detect and remove fake accounts to reduce the spread of misinformation, spam, and scams.
Image recognition software to identify graphic violence, adult content, and child abuse material.
Language processing to assess the context of words that could constitute hate speech.

By using a layered approach involving human reviewers and AI, Facebook can identify potentially violating content early, before many people see it. However, AI alone cannot judge the nuances and context of complex content issues.

What content does Facebook remove?

Facebook removes content that goes against its Community Standards in the following areas:

Violence and Criminal Behavior

This includes threats, promotion or support of violence, theft, vandalism, and criminal or dangerous organizations. Graphic content and violence may be allowed for awareness or condemnation.

Safety

Content that endangers people is not allowed, such as terrorism, child exploitation, suicide or self-harm, and selling non-medical or pharmaceutical drugs. Some graphic content may be permitted to spread awareness.

Objectionable Content

This covers hate speech, bullying, harassment, sexual solicitation, cruelty, intimate privacy violation, and vulgar or profane content that is intended to degrade or shame. Some allowance may be made for humorous, self-deprecating, or satirical content.

Integrity and Authenticity

Misinformation, spam, scams, clickbait headlines, fake accounts, and coordinated inauthentic behavior undermine the authentic, safe, transparent and informed experience Facebook strives to provide. Impersonation and intellectual property violations are also removed.

Respecting Intellectual Property

Content that infringes on copyrights, trademarks, patents, or other proprietary rights and agreements will be taken down. Memes and parody may be protected forms of fair use.

User Requests

Users can request to have content involving them removed if it violates their privacy rights or legal ownership. These requests must balance the public’s right to information.

Legal Obligations

Content may be geographically restricted if it is deemed illegal in a particular country, like Holocaust denial in Germany. Legal requests from governments to restrict content must meet standards of legitimacy, necessity, and proportionality.

How does Facebook decide what content to leave up or take down?

Determining what content should be allowed or removed involves difficult judgment calls. Facebook considers:

Community feedback on policies and standards.
Context of the post and the intended audience.

Whether the content is newsworthy and in the public interest.
Likelihood and severity of harm if the content stays up.
Applicable local laws and cultural norms.

While some content decisions are clear violations, others reside in gray areas. For example, an edited movie clip with violence may not violate policies, while a graphic real-world violent act likely will. Understanding author intent is key – humor or satire may look very different than a sincere threat or attack.

How can users appeal if their content is removed?

If a user feels Facebook mistakenly removed their content, they can:

Request a review directly from Facebook through an online form.

For content removals related to nudity, sexual activity, hate speech or violence and graphic content, users can initiate an appeal with the Oversight Board.

Facebook must respond to appeals and the Oversight Board makes binding decisions. This process helps keep content policies fair and consistent for all users.

Does Facebook moderate private messages?

Facebook does not proactively moderate the content of private messages between users. This ensures private communication remains private. However:

Messages are scanned by automated tools for spam, scams, child exploitation, and specific threats of harm.
Users can report private messages that violate policy or law.
Facebook may restrict accounts engaged in abusive messaging or illegal activity.

So private communication has protection, but Facebook still takes steps to prevent the most egregious abuses of its messaging tools.

How has Facebook’s approach to content moderation evolved?

Facebook’s content moderation approach has changed significantly since its early days:

More comprehensive policies and definitions of what content crosses the line.

Proactive use of AI tools to detect policy violations at scale.
Large teams of content reviewers with native language and subject expertise.
Formal appeals process for controversial decisions.

Oversight Board empowered to make policy binding recommendations.
Increased transparency into content removal data.

As Facebook’s user base grew exponentially, its moderation systems did not initially scale. Scandals like Cambridge Analytica highlighted gaps in protecting user data and election integrity. In response, Facebook has invested billions in better moderation, even at the cost of growth and engagement.

What are the biggest challenges in content moderation?

Facebook faces immense challenges in effectively moderating content across its apps used by billions worldwide:

Scale – Over 300 billion photos, 720,000 hours video, and billions of posts/comments added daily.
Language – Supporting over 100 different languages from Arabic to Zulu.

Context – Understanding slang, humor, satire, and cultural references.
Bias – Ensuring moderators from all backgrounds make consistent, unbiased decisions.
Manipulation – Advanced technology like “deepfakes” making content authenticity harder to determine.

Changing norms – Keeping policies relevant as cultural standards and laws evolve.

Despite huge investments, issues slip through the cracks at Facebook’s scale. And moderation can feel heavy-handed or stifle expression to some users. There are no perfect solutions, but Facebook continually works to improve its systems.

How does Facebook moderate content across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger?

Facebook’s Family of apps share an underlying content moderation infrastructure, but there are some differences:

End-to-end encryption prevents WhatsApp from viewing message content.
Automated tools scan unencrypted data like user profiles for malicious content.
Users can report messages to WhatsApp for review.

Instagram

Same Community Standards and review teams as Facebook.
Additional policies tailored to images and video content.
Uses AI to proactively find and remove policy violations.

Messenger

combination of automated tools and user reports to detect abusive chats.
Disabled accounts engaged in harmful activity like spamming.
Review teams focused on integrity violations on platform.

So while the apps have unique needs, their moderation approaches utilize shared tools and infrastructure where possible.

How can users help improve content moderation on Facebook?

Every Facebook user plays an important role in content moderation:

Carefully consider the content you post and share on Facebook.

Provide constructive feedback on Facebook’s policies and standards.
Use privacy settings to control who sees your posts.
Report offensive or harmful content when you see it.

Appeal content decisions you believe were mistaken.
Give context if asked about a specific post you made.

Millions of users reporting issues and billions of positive interactions overcome the small minority intent on harm. Facebook’s future depends on users helping to shape the platform they want.

Year	Key Developments
2004	Facebook founded with basic community guidelines.
2007	First structured reporting tools introduced.
2009	Content Policy team formed to formalize policies.
2012	Disable option added for bullying content.
2015	Hate speech policy expanded to protect more groups.
2017	3,000 additional content reviewers hired after violent video spreads.
2018	Community Standards made more user-friendly and transparent.
2020	Oversight board launched for content appeals.
2021	AI proactively detects 94.5% of hate speech content.

Conclusion

Facebook content moderation is an evolving, multi-faceted process necessary to enable communication and community among billions worldwide. It requires considerable investment and innovation to moderate content at scale across languages and cultures. Mistakes are inevitable, so user input keeps policies aligned with evolving norms and sensitivities. Content moderation aims to allow the widest possible range of expression while protecting users from real-world harm. There are no perfect solutions, but Facebook continually strives to improve and benefit from lessons learned over its 18 year history.