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Facebook Inc. has released its most detailed rules yet for the types of posts it allows on its social network, delving into touchy subjects from drug use and sex work to bullying and hate speech, as it tries to rebuild trust after data-privacy mishandling.
The new posting of Facebook’s rules essentially makes public the more detailed internal document that had guided the removal of individual posts or accounts. It replaces the vaguer “community standards” guidelines that had shaped what the public thought it could and could not get away with.
And, the new rules, some 8,000 words long, allow users for the first time the right to appeal Facebook’s removal decisions on individual posts. Previously, only the removal of accounts, Groups and Pages could be appealed.
The more detailed community standards do not address the challenge of false information or other contentious issues, such as use of personal data, that has plagued the company early this year.
They also don’t incorporate separate procedures under which governments can demand the removal of content that violates local law. In those cases, the company told Reuters, formal written requests are required and are reviewed by Facebook’s legal team and outside attorneys.
Facebook has faced criticism from governments and rights groups for failing to do enough to stem hate speech and prevent the service from being used to promote terrorism or broadcast violent acts, including homicide and suicide.
“The guidelines will help people understand where we draw the line on nuanced issues,” said Monika Bickert, the company’s vice president of global product management. “Providing these details makes it easier for everyone, including experts in different fields, to give us feedback so that we can improve the guidelines — and the decisions we make — over time.”
Facebook has long closed its site to sales of prescription drugs, marijuana or firearms, but the newly published document details what other speech on those subjects is permitted. Content in which someone “admits to personal use of non-medical drugs” is not allowed, the rules state.
The document elaborates on harassment and bullying, barring for example “cursing at a minor.” It also prohibits content that comes from a hacked source, “except in limited cases of newsworthiness.”
Bickert acknowledged that challenges of enforcement persist. “We use a combination of artificial intelligence and reports from people to identify posts, pictures or other content that likely violates our Community Standards,” she explained in a release.
These reports of violations are reviewed by an around-the-clock community operations team that works in over 40 languages. The company currently has 7,500 content reviewers, more than 40% above the number of reviewers at this time last year.
Bickert said questionable content review is usually initiated within 24 hours of the post’s removal, during which an appeal can now be launched and the poster given the opportunity to provide more context — one example in the release includes a screenshot of a posting of a nude sculpture that was immediately flagged by Facebook as violating its standards. The image is a candidate for appeal, however, especially if the poster provides more context. Facebook says it will notify the user when a mistake has been made and the post will be restored.
“We are working to extend this [appeals] process further, by supporting more violation types, giving people the opportunity to provide more context that could help us make the right decision, and making appeals available not just for content that was taken down, but also for content that was reported and left up,” Bickert said.
Facebook is planning a series of public forums in May and June in different countries to get more feedback on its rules, Reuters reported, citing Facebook’s head of content policy.
In the past three months, Facebook shares have dropped roughly 8%, as the S&P 500 index has fallen 5% in the same span. The decline has come amid the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal involving improper handling of data generated by Facebook members.