Facebook updates community standards to clarify what's not allowed

Anyone who has a Facebook account and more than a few friends has undoubtedly seen content posted to the social network that they probably don't care to see. Facebook has recently updated its community standards in an attempt to highlight what sort of content is allowed on the network and the sort of content that isn't.

Facebook wants to create an environment where people using the network feel "motivated and empowered to treat each other with empathy and respect." The updated guidelines again call out the stance against harassment that Facebook has always had.

The new guidelines also try and give more guidance to users about other topics like self-injury, dangerous organizations, bullying, harassment, criminal activity, sexual violence, nudity, hate speech, and graphic content. Facebook still relies on the users to report this sort of content and the social network will geotarget the blocking of content to support laws in specific countries.

Facebook says that it won't necessarily remove the content from Facebook altogether if content is requested to be removed in that country, but that it could restrict access to the content in specific countries. Facebook also noted when it published the new community guidelines that it has seen an 11% increase in the amount of content removed due to violation of local laws.

SOURCE: CNET