Since Facebook is the biggest social media outlet, it's important that the site has a strong standard for managing its content. However, its past attempts at creating such a standard were sub-par, to say the least. Many users' pictures were censored by Facebook despite a lack of nudity or truly offensive content, while many other groups' Facebook pages have been left up despite many users requesting they be taken down.
However, all that changes now. Facebook announced that it is updating its community standards so it can fight against revenge porn, bullying and hate speech. In a press release released on Sunday, Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of global policy management, and Chris Sonderby, deputy general counsel, explained that Facebook is updating its community standards. According to Bickert and Sonderby, "[Facebook has] provided more guidance on policies related to self-injury, dangerous organizations, bullying and harassment, criminal activity, sexual violence and exploitation, nudity, hate speech, and violence and graphic content. While some of this guidance is new, it is consistent with how we've applied our standards in the past."
Creating a set of standards that can account for the variety of opinions and perspectives in a multitude of cultures is extremely difficult, since the standards for what constitutes "hate speech" or acceptable levels of nudity differ from country to country. That's why Facebook has worked with government representatives from a number of countries to determine what should be considered hate speech in particular regions. Facebook also promises to judge all reported content according to local standards, if it's possible.
The new standards provide an explicit definition for what could be called nudity or hate speech and what cannot. For example, the new standards for what is considered nudity includes "people displaying genitals or focusing in on fully exposed buttocks" as well as explicit images and descriptions of sexual intercourse. Facebook will also remove all content that directly attacks an individual or a group because of their "Race, Ethnicity, National origin, Religious affiliation, Sexual orientation, Sex, gender, gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases."
Facebook's standards also expressed that it is willing to limit or take down content if a local government feels it is offensive, even if the content's offense isn't recorded in the community standards.
This policy change comes after Reddit and Twitter placed a ban on posting revenge porn and nude photos without a subject's consent.
