Changes made to the guidelines also clarify the company's position on bullying, threats of violence and even hate speech. In a new blog post, Facebook's Monika Bickert, Head of Global Policy Management, and Chris Sonderby, Deputy General Counsel, go into some detail about prohibiting harassment, threatening violence, and any hate speech against someone because of their race or religious beliefs.
The new standards are fairly light to read through too. For example, according to the new guidelines provided, Facebook will allow some degree of nudity.
"We remove photographs of people displaying genitals or focusing in on fully exposed buttocks. We also restrict some images of female breasts if they include the nipple, but we always allow photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring. We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures and other art that depicts nude figures."
As always, Facebook will continue reviewing reported content to maintain freedom to share ideas, and to prevent content from being pulled due to incorrect reporting or a specific country requesting said content to be removed. If a piece of content has been reported as illegal in a region, Facebook would look to prevent people in the affected area from accessing the media in favour of flat out removal.
Facebook also touched on data requests from governments and how the company has actually witnessed a decline in submissions from the US.
"The number of government requests for account data remained relatively flat, with a slight increase to 35,051 from 34,946. There was an increase in data requests from certain governments such as India, and decline in requests from countries such as the United States and Germany."
They close by stating they will continue pushing governments to reform surveillance practices. It's a delicate balance between freedom of speech and keeping those who use Facebook safe online. You can check out the new community standards section of the Facebook website for more details.
Source: Facebook
