Policy details

Change log

CHANGE LOG

Change log

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Policy rationale

To encourage safety and deter potentially harmful activities, we prohibit attempts by individuals, manufacturers and retailers to purchase, sell, raffle, gift, transfer or trade certain goods and services on our platform. Brick-and-mortar and online retailers may promote firearms, alcohol and tobacco items available for sale off of our services; however, we restrict visibility of this content for minors. We allow discussions about the sale of these goods in stores or by online retailers, as well as advocating for changes to regulations of goods and services covered in this policy.

Do not post:

Firearms

Content that:

  • Attempts to buy, sell or trade, firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, explosives or lethal enhancements, except when posted by a Page, group or Instagram profile representing legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses, websites, brands or government agencies (e.g. police department, fire department) or a private individual sharing content on behalf of legitimate brick-and-mortar entities.
  • Attempts to donate or gift firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, explosives or lethal enhancements except when posted in the following contexts:
    • Donating, trading in or buying back firearms and ammunition by a Page, group or Instagram profile representing legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses, websites, brands or government agencies, or a private individual sharing content on behalf of legitimate brick-and-mortar entities.
    • An auction or raffle of firearms by legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses, government-affiliated organisations or charities, or private individuals affiliated with or sponsored by legitimate brick-and-mortar entities.
  • Asks for firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, explosives or lethal enhancements
  • Sells, gifts, exchanges, transfers, coordinates, promotes (by which we mean speaks positively about, encourages the use of) or provides access to 3D printing or computer-aided manufacturing instructions for firearms or firearms parts regardless of context or poster.

Non-medical drugs (drugs or substances that are not being used for an intended medical purpose or are used recreationally to achieve an altered mental state.)

Content that:

  • Attempts to buy, sell, trade, coordinate the trade of, donate or gift, or asks for non-medical drugs.
  • Admits to buying, trading or coordinating the trade of non-medical drugs by the poster of the content by themselves or through others.
  • Admits to personal use without acknowledgment of or reference to recovery, treatment or other assistance to combat usage. This content may not speak positively about, encourage use of, coordinate or provide instructions to make or use non-medical drugs.
  • Coordinates or promotes (by which we mean speaks positively about, encourages the use of, or provides instructions to use or make) non-medical drugs.

Pharmaceutical drugs (drugs that require a prescription or medical professionals to administer)

Content that:

  • Attempts to buy, sell or trade pharmaceutical drugs except when:
    • Listing the price of vaccines in an explicit education or discussion context.
    • Offering delivery when posted by legitimate healthcare e-commerce businesses.
  • Attempts to donate or gift pharmaceutical drugs
  • Asks for pharmaceutical drugs except when content discusses the affordability, accessibility or efficacy of pharmaceutical drugs in a medical context

Marijuana

Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift, or asks for, marijuana.

Endangered species (wildlife and plants):

Content that:

  • Attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift, or asks for, endangered species or their parts.
  • Admits to poaching, buying or trading of endangered species or their parts committed by the poster of the content either by themselves or their associates through others. This does not include depictions of poaching by strangers.
  • Depicts poaching of endangered species and their parts committed by the poster of the content by themselves or through others.
  • Shows coordination or promotion (by which we mean speaks positively about, encourages the poaching of or provides instructions to use or make products from endangered species or their parts)

Live non-endangered animals, excluding livestock

  • Content that attempts to buy, sell or trade live non-endangered animals except when:
    • Posted by a Page, group or Instagram profile representing legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses, legitimate websites, brands or rehoming shelters, or a private individual sharing content on behalf of legitimate brick-and-mortar entities.
    • Posted in the context of donating or rehoming live non-endangered animals, including rehoming fees for peer-to-peer adoptions, selling an animal for a religious offering or offering a reward for lost pets.

Human blood

  • Content that attempts to buy, sell or trade human blood.
  • Content that asks for human blood except for a donation or gift.

Alcohol/tobacco

Content that:

  • Attempts to buy, sell or trade alcohol or tobacco, except when:
    • Posted by a Page, group or Instagram profile representing legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses, websites or brands, or a private individual sharing content on behalf of legitimate brick-and-mortar entities.
    • Content refers to alcohol/tobacco that will be exchanged or consumed on location at an event, restaurant, bar, party and so on.
  • Attempts to donate or gift alcohol or tobacco except when posted by a Page, group or Instagram profile representing legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses, websites or brands, or a private individual sharing content on behalf of legitimate brick-and-mortar entities.
  • Asks for alcohol or tobacco

Weight loss products

  • Content about weight loss that contains a miracle claim and attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift weight loss products.

Historical artefacts

  • Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift, or asks for, historical artefacts.

Entheogens

  • Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift, or asks for entheogens.
  • Note: Debating or advocating for the legality or discussing scientific or medical merits of entheogens is allowed.

Hazardous goods and materials

  • Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift, or asks for hazardous goods and materials

Except when any of the above occurs in a fictional or documentary context

For the following content, we restrict visibility to adults aged 21 years and over:

Firearms

  • Content posted by or promoting legitimate brick and mortar shop, entities, including retail businesses websites, brands or government agencies which attempt to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift (including in the context of an auction or a raffle) firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, explosives or lethal enhancements.

For the following content, we restrict visibility to adults aged 18 years and over:

Alcohol/tobacco

  • Content posted by or promoting legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses websites or brands, which attempt to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift alcohol or tobacco products.

Bladed weapons

  • Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift bladed weapons.

Weight loss products and potentially dangerous cosmetic procedures

Content that

  • Attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift weight loss products or potentially dangerous cosmetic procedures.
  • Admits to or depicts using a weight loss product or potentially dangerous cosmetic procedures, except when admitting to use in a disapproval context.
  • Shows coordination or promotion (by which we mean speaks positively, encourages the use of or provides instructions to use or make a diet product or perform dangerous cosmetic procedures).

Sex toys and sexual enhancement products

  • Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift sex toys and sexual enhancement products

Real money gambling

  • Content that attempts to sell or promote online gaming and gambling services where anything of monetary value (including cash or digital/virtual currencies, e.g. bitcoin) is required to play and anything of monetary value forms part of the prize.

Entheogens

  • Content that shows admission to personal use of, coordinates or promotes (by which we mean speaks positively about), or encourages the use of entheogens.
  • Except when any of the above occurs in a fictional or documentary context.

For the following Community Standards, we require additional information and/or context to enforce:

  • In certain cases, we will allow content that may otherwise violate the Community Standards when it is determined that the content is satirical. Content will only be allowed if the violating elements of the content are being satirised or attributed to something or someone else in order to mock or criticise them.

User experiences

See some examples of what enforcement looks like for people on Facebook, such as: what it looks like to report something that you don't think should be on Facebook, to be told that you've violated our Community Standards and to see a warning screen over certain content.

Note: We're always improving, so what you see here may be slightly outdated compared to what we currently use.

Data
Prevalence

Percentage of times that people saw violating content

Content actioned

Number of pieces of violating content that we took action on

Proactive rate

Percentage of violating content that we found before people reported it

Appealed content

Number of pieces of content that people appealed after we took action on it

Restored content

Number of pieces of content that we restored after we originally took action on it

Prevalence

Percentage of times that people saw violating content

Content actioned

Number of pieces of violating content that we took action on

Proactive rate

Percentage of violating content that we found before people reported it

Appealed content

Number of pieces of content that people appealed after we took action on it

Restored content

Number of pieces of content that we restored after we originally took action on it

Reporting
1
Universal entry point

We have an option to report, whether it's on a post, a comment, a story, a message or something else.

2
Getting started

We help people report things that they don't think should be on our platform.

3
Select a problem

We ask people to tell us more about what's wrong. This helps us send the report to the right place.

4
Report submitted

After these steps, we submit the report. We also lay out what people should expect next.

Post-report communication
1
Update via notifications

After we've reviewed the report, we'll send the reporting user a notification.

2
More detail in the Support Inbox

We'll share more details about our review decision in the Support Inbox. We'll notify people that this information is there and send them a link to it.

3
Appeal option

If people think we made the wrong decision, they can request another review.

4
Post-appeal communication

We'll send a final response after we've re-reviewed the content, again to the Support Inbox.

Takedown experience
1
Immediate notification

When someone posts something that violates our Community Standards, we'll tell them.

2
Additional context

We'll also address common misperceptions around enforcement.

3
Explain the policy

We'll give people easy-to-understand explanations about why their content was removed.

4
Ask for input

After we've established the context for our decision and explained our policy, we'll ask people what they'd like to do next, including letting us know if they think we made a mistake.

5
Tell us more

If people disagree with the decision, we'll ask them to tell us more.

6
Set expectations

Here, we set expectations on what will happen next.

Warning screens
1
Warning screens in context

We cover certain content in News Feed and other surfaces, so people can choose whether to see it.

2
More information

In this example, we give more context on why we've covered the photo with more context from independent fact-checkers

Enforcement

We have the same policies around the world, for everyone on Facebook.

Review teams

Our global team of over 15,000 reviewers work every day to keep people on Facebook safe.

Stakeholder engagement

Outside experts, academics, NGOs and policymakers help inform the Facebook Community Standards.

Get help with restricted goods and services

Learn what you can do if you see something on Facebook that goes against our Community Standards.