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16 March 2015 Last updated at 04:00

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Facebook revamps its takedown guidelines
Comments (435) <#dna-comments>
By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor
Facebook Facebook's new community standards provide more detail about
what posts will be removed
Continue reading the main story <#story_continues_1>
Related Stories
* Facebook restricts violent videos </news/technology-30793702>
* Breastfeeding photo 'goes viral' </news/uk-england-shropshire-29800500>
* Instagram defends rules on nudity </newsbeat/27676072>
Facebook is providing the public with more information about what
material is banned on the social network.
Its revamped community standards now include a separate section on

"dangerous organisations" and give more details about what types of

nudity it allows to be posted.
The US firm said it hoped the new guidelines would provide "clarity".
One of its safety advisers praised the move but said that it was
"frustrating" other steps had not been taken.
Facebook says about 1.4 billion people use its service at least once a
month <http://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/>
Confused users
The new guide will replace the old one on the firm's website
<https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards>, and will be sent to users
who complain about others' posts.
Monika Bicket, Facebook's global head of content policy, said the
rewrite was intended to address confusion about why some takedown
requests were rejected.
Facebook complaints Facebook's guidelines urge members to report posts
that they believe violate its rules
"We [would] send them a message saying we're not removing it because it
doesn't violate our standards, and they would write in and say I'm
confused about this, so we would certainly hear that kind of feedback,"
she told the BBC.
"And people had questions about what we meant when we said we don't
allow bullying, or exactly what our policy was on terrorism.
"[For example] we now make clear that not only do we not allow terrorist
organisations or their members within the Facebook community, but we
also don't permit praise or support for terror groups or their acts or
their leaders, which wasn't something that was detailed before."
Ms Bicket stressed, however, that the policies themselves had not changed.
Buttocks ban
The new version of the guidelines runs to nearly 2,500 words, nearly
three times as long as before.
The section on nudity, in particular, is much more detailed than the
vague talk of "limitations" that featured previously.
Facebook now states that images "focusing in on fully exposed buttocks"
are banned, as are "images of female breasts if they include the nipple".
It adds that the restrictions extend to digitally-created content,
unless posts are for educational or satirical purposes. Likewise,
text-based descriptions of sexual acts that contain "vivid detail" are
forbidden.
Facebook Facebook said some users were confused about why complaints had
been rejected
However, Facebook adds that it will "always allow photos of women
actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with

post-mastectomy scarring".
Other sections with new details include:
* Bullying - images altered to "degrade" an individual and videos of
physical bullying posted to shame the victim are now expressly forbidden
* Hate speech - while the site maintains the same list of banned
topics, it now adds that people are allowed to share examples of
others' hate speech in order to raise awareness of the issue, but
they must "clearly indicate" that this is their purpose
* Criminal activity - the network now states that users are prohibited
from celebrating any crimes they have committed, but adds that they
are allowed to propose that an illegal activity should be legalised
* Self-injury - the site says that it will remove content that
identifies victims and targets them for attack, even if done
humorously. But it says that it does not consider "body
modification" to be a type of self-injury
Graphic violence
The changes have been welcomed by the Family Online Safety Institute
(Fosi), one of five independent organisations that make up Facebook's
safety advisory board <https://en-gb.facebook.com/help/222332597793306>.
"I think it's great that Facebook has revamped its community standards
page to make it both more readable and accessible," the body's chief
executive Stephen Balkam told the BBC.
"I wish more social media sites and apps would follow suit."
But he expressed concern that Facebook was still not doing enough to
protect youngsters from seeing disturbing videos.
While Facebook's new guidelines state that users should "warn their
audience about what they are about to see if it includes graphic
violence", it provides no way for members to add cover pages to clips to
prevent them from auto-playing.
In January, after months of pressure from Fosi and others, Facebook
revealed it had introduced a way for its own staff to add such
"interstitial" warnings. They have been used over clips showing
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30793702> the murder of a French
policeman in the Charlie Hebdo attacks among other material.
Facebook video Facebook staff can add interstitial warnings that stop
videos from auto-playing, but only do so after acting on complaints
However, Facebook only adds the alerts if it has received a complaint,
rather than letting the original posters do so.
"It is frustrating that after all this time, Facebook users are still
not able to put up interstitials on violent or controversial images and
videos," said Mr Balkam.
"Facebook has done the right thing to place interstitials themselves
once a user has reported an image or extreme content, but my hope is
that they will bring this to ordinary users sooner rather than later."
Facebook has acknowledged the point.

"We are always looking to provide more tools for people to use
themselves," responded Ms Bicket.
"Right now we are not in a position to provide those tools to people,
but we are always looking at ways to do better."
Your comments (435) <#dna-comments>
More on This Story
Related Stories
*
Facebook restricts violent videos </news/technology-30793702>
13 JANUARY 2015, TECHNOLOGY
*
Breastfeeding photo 'goes viral' </news/uk-england-shropshire-29800500>
28 OCTOBER 2014, SHROPSHIRE
*
Instagram defends rules on nudity </newsbeat/27676072>
03 JUNE 2014, TECHNOLOGY
From other news sites
*
*Telegraph *Facebook bans bare buttocks, allows selling guns
<http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z14930566706&z=1650249688>53
mins ago
*
*Guardian.co.uk *Facebook Policy clarified on nudity, hate
speech, bullying and more
<http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z14930447785&z=1650249688>1
hr ago
*
*Campaign Magazine* *Facebook specifies 'buttocks' and
dangerous organisations in updated banned content rules
<http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z14929976969&z=1650249688>2
hrs ago
*
*The Independent *Facebook launches new banned content
guidelines, including what nudity can be shared
<http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z14929683547&z=1650249688>2
hrs ago
*

*Daily Star *Facebook BANS bare bums and boobs...and that's

not all
<http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z14929532220&z=1650249688>3
hrs ago
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Comment number 255.
phil j
2 Hours ago
Facebook don't just need a new policy they need consistency among
the people that implement the rules. One moderator will remove an
offensive item only for the next to re-instate it. They also need to
replace the appeal procedure. All of the content that I ever
reported that they said didn't violate their policies was removed
once I'd appealed. Now you can't appeal.
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