CommunityStandards
Latest
Facebook bans Alex Jones and InfoWars pages
Facebook has removed four pages from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, saying that the channels "repeatedly" violated its hate speech and bullying policies. Last week, Facebook removed four videos from the channels and suspended the controversial radio personality for 30 days. However, today it wrote that since the earlier action didn't seem to deter Jones, it was taking stronger measures.
Facebook has already removed 583 million fake accounts this year
Last month, Facebook published its internal community enforcement guidelines for the first time and today, the company has provided some numbers to show what that enforcement really looks like. In a new report that will be published quarterly, Facebook breaks down its enforcement efforts across six main areas -- graphic violence, adult nudity and sexual activity, terrorist propaganda, hate speech, spam and fake accounts. The report details how much of that content was seen by Facebook users, how much of it was removed and how much of it was taken down before any Facebook users reported it.
Facebook publishes its community standards playbook
Facebook has had community standards for awhile now, but it hasn't always been clear on what is or isn't allowed on its platform. This has occasionally led to some serious confusion. Last year, ProPublica unearthed a Facebook internal training document that appears to prioritize "white men" over "black children," and later discovered that community moderators were often wildly inconsistent on what they considered hate speech. It's since apologized for these errors, and today, Facebook is hoping to clear up things even further: It's publishing its internal community enforcement guidelines for the very first time.
Facebook and the folly of self-regulation
There's a whole bunch of content that you aren't allowed to post on Facebook. Threats against public figures and other users, claims of imminent self-harm, harassment and bullying (in theory, at least) and the purchase, sale or trade of regulated goods like drugs and weapons. What's more, Facebook made a subtle change to its Community Standards back in January, effectively banning the peer-to-peer sale of firearms, ammo and explosives. Firearm shops and online retailers are still allowed to promote offline sales on Facebook -- assuming all applicable laws and regulations are met -- but private citizens can no longer offer their own weapons on the site. While this is a commendable policy shift on FB's part, the site's enforcement of the new rules has been spotty at best.
