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Facebook expands its policies on harassment in its latest change following congressional testimony from a whistleblower who accused the social media giant of not doing enough to stop harmful content.
Under its new, more detailed harassment policy, Facebook will now bar content that degrades or sexualises public figures, including celebrities, elected officials and others in the public eye. Existing policies already prohibit similar content about private individuals.
Another change will add more protections to government dissidents, journalists and human rights activists around the world from harassment. Reports of journalists and activists’ private details being revealed to the public in the act of targeted “doxxing” has led to stalking and assault incidents. The policy update will attempt to end further doxxing from happening.
Lastly, the company announced it will ban all co-ordinated harassment, in which a group of individuals work together to bully another user. That change will apply to all users on the platform.
“We do not allow bullying and harassment on our platform, but when it does happen, we act,” Antigone Davis, Facebook’s head of global safety, wrote in a blog post.
The changes come amid mounting criticism of the history of company’s handling of hate speech, misinformation and negative content, as seen in how organized hate group are still active on the site despite attempts to take pages down through reports.
Concerns about harassment range from teenagers bullying each other on Instagram to the co-ordinated abuse of journalists and dissidents by groups linked to authoritarian governments.
Last week, former Facebook data scientist Frances Haugen told Congress the company has done too little to address its responsibility for spreading harmful content, and too often chooses profit over its users’ best interests.
Days later, the company announced it would introduce new features designed to protect kids, including one encouraging them to take a break from the platform.
With AAP
Nina Alvarez is a writer and content producer. Her interests include writing, particularly about different forms of digital communication and the many ways it can impact the flow of information through varying demographics.
