Facebook has extensive policies and methods in place to deal with objectionable content that violates its Community Standards. This content runs the gamut from hate speech, harassment, bullying, and threats of violence against people to nudity, sexual solicitation, and cruel or insensitive content.
What types of content are against Facebook’s rules?
Facebook prohibits the following types of content:
- Violence and threats
- Safety issues such as self-harm, dangerous organizations, and bullying
- Illegal activities such as drugs, firearms, sexual exploitation, terrorism, and intellectual property theft
- Sexual content including nudity and sexual solicitation
- Hate speech targeting people based on protected characteristics
- Cruel or insensitive content such as graphic violence or animal abuse
- Spam and fake accounts
Posts, comments, messages, photos, videos, profiles, stories, ads, events, groups and pages can all potentially contain objectionable content that violates Facebook’s rules. Even saying certain things can break the rules and lead to removal of content or suspension of accounts.
How does Facebook find objectionable content?
Facebook uses a mix of automated systems and human reviewers to detect content that goes against its rules:
- Automated systems use machine learning and artificial intelligence to proactively identify posts and accounts that may break the rules. This handles billions of pieces of content per day.
- Users can report objectionable content they come across, flagging it for review.
- Facebook’s content review teams around the world look at reported content 24/7 and make decisions based on the Community Standards.
- Facebook works with experts and organizations to better understand emerging issues and improve its detection systems.
In addition, Facebook sometimes prohibits certain content during urgent situations like elections, natural disasters, or public health emergencies to maintain safety and limit harm.
What happens when objectionable content is found?
Facebook has a tiered system of enforcement options when its rules are broken:
- Content removal – Content such as hate speech, nudity, harassment, and graphic violence is removed when detected or reported.
- Account restrictions – Features like posting, commenting or sharing can be temporarily restricted for accounts that repeatedly break the rules.
- Account suspension – Serious or repeated offenses can result in suspended access to Facebook for a set time such as 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, or 2 years.
- Account disablement – Fake and dangerous accounts get disabled so they can no longer be used.
Facebook informs users when it takes enforcement actions against content they have posted that goes against its standards. Users can appeal decisions if they think Facebook has made a mistake in assessing their content.
What criteria does Facebook use to assess content?
Facebook has published detailed criteria to explain how it assesses whether content violates policies around key areas like hate speech, bullying, nudity and dangerous organizations. Some key aspects it considers are:
- Context – Content must be assessed with the surrounding context of words, images and videos to determine if it crosses the line into violation of rules.
- Severity – More egregious content warrants stricter enforcement while minor offenses may just get a warning.
- Intent – Factors like humor, condemnation vs support, and shared identity influence whether problematic content had good or bad intentions.
- Identity – Special care must be taken with content targeting people based on protected characteristics like race, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
- Danger – Content more likely to contribute to real world harm faces greater restrictions.
By providing detailed criteria, Facebook aims to improve transparency around how it makes sensitive content decisions at massive scale.
What options do users have to manage objectionable content?
Facebook offers users various tools to control the content they see and interact with on its platforms:
- Unfollow, unfriend or block accounts posting objectionable content
- Choose who can see posts and limit potentially problematic audiences
- Use profanity and keyword filters to hide certain types of sensitive content
- Temporarily snooze friends or groups that are overly negative or hostile
- Report offensive comments, messages, timelines and groups
- Restrict potentially harassing messages and comments from strangers
By proactively managing their own News Feed and connections, users can reduce their exposure to objectionable content without Facebook needing to remove that content.
What efforts does Facebook make to improve its practices?
Facebook is committed to continually improving how it handles objectionable content on its platforms. Some key initiatives include:
- Refining its detection systems to be more accurate including for non-English languages
- Expanding its global team of content reviewers to now over 15,000 people
- Introducing an independent Oversight Board to help make final content decisions
- Consulting experts to update its policies around emerging issues like self-harm and hate symbols
- Adding transparency around content enforcement metrics and internal processes
- Researching techniques like warning labels to reduce the spread of misinformation and harmful content
Facebook states that implementing its standards at scale is complex and often evolving. The company claims commitment to constantly improving and being transparent about how it manages objectionable content across its apps.
Conclusion
Facebook bans a wide array of content that violates its Community Standards around issues like hate speech, violence, nudity, harassment, and dangerous misinformation. It uses a combination of automated AI systems and human content reviewers to detect violations at massive scale. When objectionable content is found, Facebook removes it and may restrict accounts responsible. The company has detailed public criteria on how it assesses different types of problematic content while also giving users tools to manage the posts they see. Facebook states that enforcing policies on objectionable content is an ongoing process that requires transparency, expert guidance, and continual evolution of practices.