Facebook Publishes Content Removal Policies for the First Time

For the first time, Facebook is letting people know its specific rules for taking down content once it’s reported to the social network’s moderators, according to Bloomberg.

The 27-page document governs the behavior of more than 2 billion users, giving Facebook’s definitions of hate speech, violent threats, sexual exploitation and more. It’s the closest the world has come to seeing an international code of conduct that was previously enacted behind closed doors. The release of the document follows frequent criticism and confusion about the company’s policies.

The community standards read like the result of years of trial and error and are used to provide workers with enough specificity to make quick and consistent judgments. While fully nude close-ups of buttocks aren’t allowed, they are permitted if “photoshopped on a public figure.“ Content from a hacked source isn’t acceptable “except in limited cases of newsworthiness.“

Facebook published the policies to help people understand where the company draws the line on nuanced issues, Monika Bickert, vice president of global policy management, said in a blog post. The company will for the first time give people a right to appeal its decisions.

“Our policies are only as good as the strength and accuracy of our enforcement, and our enforcement isn’t perfect,“ Bickert said. “In some cases, we make mistakes because our policies are not sufficiently clear to our content reviewers. More often than not, however, we make mistakes because our processes involve people, and people are fallible.“

The company has 7,500 content reviewers, up 40 percent from a year earlier, working in 40 languages. Facebook also has said it’s working to increase the number of workers who speak the various languages that require more attention. But with 2.2 billion users around the world, that means each reviewer is responsible on average for a userbase that is equivalent to the population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Now that Facebook has published the policies, it’s asking for feedback to edit them. The company will host a series of events around the world to solicit advice, starting in May. “Our efforts to improve and refine our Community Standards depend on participation and input from people around the world,“ Bickert said.