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Change log
Change log
Current version
In an effort to prevent and disrupt real-world harm, we do not allow organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on Meta. We assess these entities based on their behavior both online and offline, most significantly, their ties to violence. Under this policy, we designate individuals, organizations, and networks of people. These designations are divided into three tiers that indicate the level of content enforcement, with Tier 1 resulting in the most extensive enforcement because we believe these entities have the most direct ties to offline harm.
Tier 1 focuses on entities that engage in serious offline harms - including organizing or advocating for violence against civilians, repeatedly dehumanizing or advocating for harm against people based on protected characteristics, or engaging in systematic criminal operations. Tier 1 includes hate organizations; criminal organizations, including those designated by the United States government as Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficking Kingpins (SDNTKs); and terrorist organizations, including entities and individuals designated by the United States government as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). We remove praise, substantive support, and representation of Tier 1 entities as well as their leaders, founders, or prominent members.
In addition, we do not allow content that praises, substantively supports, or represents events that Meta designates as violating violent events - including terrorist attacks, hate events, multiple-victim violence or attempted multiple-victim violence, serial murders, or hate crimes. Nor do we allow (1) praise, substantive support, or representation of the perpetrator(s) of such attacks; (2) perpetrator-generated content relating to such attacks; or (3) third-party imagery depicting the moment of such attacks on visible victims. We also remove content that praises, substantively supports or represents ideologies that promote hate, such as nazism and white supremacy.
Tier 2 focuses on entities that engage in violence against state or military actors but do not generally target civilians -- what we call “Violent Non-State Actors.” We remove all substantive support and representation of these entities, their leaders, and their prominent members. We remove any praise of these groups’ violent activities.
Tier 3 focuses on entities that may repeatedly engage in violations of our Hate Speech or Dangerous Organizations policies on-or-off the platform or demonstrate strong intent to engage in offline violence in the near future, but have not necessarily engaged in violence to date or advocated for violence against others based on their protected characteristics. This includes Militarized Social Movements, Violence-Inducing Conspiracy Networks, and individuals and groups banned for promoting hatred. Tier 3 entities may not have a presence or coordinate on our platforms.
We recognize that users may share content that includes references to designated dangerous organizations and individuals in the context of social and political discourse. This includes content reporting on, neutrally discussing or condemning dangerous organizations and individuals or their activities.
News reporting includes information that is shared to raise awareness about local and global events in which designated dangerous organizations and individuals are involved.
Neutral discussion includes factual statements, commentary, questions,and other information that do not express positive judgment around the designated dangerous organization or individual and their behavior.
Condemnation includes disapproval, disgust, rejection, criticism, mockery, and other negative expressions about a designated dangerous organization or individual and their behavior.
Our policies are designed to allow room for these types of discussions while simultaneously limiting risks of potential offline harm. We thus require people to clearly indicate their intent when creating or sharing such content. If a user's intention is ambiguous or unclear, we default to removing content.
In line with international human rights law, our policies allow discussions about the human rights of designated individuals or members of designated dangerous entities, unless the content includes other praise, substantive support, or representation of designated entities or other policy violations, such as incitement to violence.
Please see our Corporate Human Rights Policy for more information about our commitment to internationally recognized human rights.
We remove praise, substantive support and representation of various dangerous organizations and individuals. These concepts apply to the organizations themselves, their activities, and their members. These concepts do not proscribe peaceful advocacy for particular political outcomes.
Praise, defined as any of the below:
We remove Praise of Tier 1 entities and designated events. We will also remove praise of violence carried out by Tier 2 entities.
Substantive Support, defined as any of the below:
We remove Substantive Support of Tier 1 and Tier 2 entities and designated events.
Representation, defined as any of the below:
We remove Representation of Tier 1 and 2 Designated Organizations, Hate-Banned Entities, and designated events.
Tier 1: Terrorism, organized hate, large-scale criminal activity, attempted multiple-victim violence, multiple victim violence, serial murders, and violating violent events
We do not allow individuals or organizations involved in organized crime, including those designated by the United States government as specially designated narcotics trafficking kingpins (SDNTKs); hate; or terrorism, including entities designated by the United States government as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), to have a presence onthe platform. We also don't allow other people to represent these entities. We do not allow leaders or prominent members of these organizations to have a presence on the platform, symbols that represent them to be used on the platform, or content that praises them or their acts. In addition, we remove any coordination of substantive support for these individuals and organizations.
We do not allow content that praises, substantively supports, or represents events that Meta designates as terrorist attacks, hate events, multiple-victim violence or attempted multiple-victim violence, serial murders, hate crimes or violating violent events. Nor do we allow (1) praise, substantive support, or representation of the perpetrator(s) of such attacks; (2) perpetrator-generated content relating to such attacks; or (3) third-party imagery depicting the moment of such attacks on visible victims.
We also do not allow Praise, Substantive Support, or Representation of designated hateful ideologies.
Terrorist organizations and individuals, defined as a non-state actor that:
Hate Entity, defined as an organization or individual that spreads and encourages hate against others based on their protected characteristics. The entity’s activities are characterized by at least some of the following behaviors:
Criminal Organizations, defined as an association of three or more people that:
Multiple-Victim Violence and Serial Murders
Hateful Ideologies
Tier 2: Violent Non-State Actors
Organizations and individuals designated by Meta as Violent Non-state Actors are not allowed to have a presence on Facebook, or have a presence maintained by others on their behalf. As these communities are actively engaged in violence, substantive support of these entities is similarly not allowed. We will also remove praise of violence carried out by these entities.
Violent Non-State Actors, defined as any non-state actor that:
Tier 3: Militarized Social Movements, Violence-Inducing Conspiracy Networks, and Hate Banned Entities
Pages, Communities, Events, and Profiles or other Facebook entities that are - or claim to be - maintained by, or on behalf of, Militarized Social Movements and Violence-Inducing Conspiracy Networks are prohibited. Admins of these pages, communities and events will also be removed.
Click here to read more about how we address movements and organizations tied to violence.
We do not allow Representation of Organizations and individuals designated by Meta as Hate-Banned Entities.
Militarized Social Movements (MSMs), which include:
Violence-Inducing Conspiracy Networks (VICNs), defined as a Non-State Actor that:
Hate-Banned Entities, defined as entities that engage in repeated hateful conduct or rhetoric, but do not rise to the level of a Tier 1 entity because they have not engaged in or explicitly advocated for violence, or because they lack sufficient connections to previously designated organizations or figures.
See some examples of what enforcement looks like for people on Facebook, such as: what it looks like to report something you don’t think should be on Facebook, to be told 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.
Percentage of times people saw violating content
Number of pieces of violating content we took action on
Percentage of violating content we found before people reported it
Number of pieces of content people appealed after we took action on it
Number of pieces of content we restored after we originally took action on it
Percentage of times people saw violating content
Number of pieces of violating content we took action on
Percentage of violating content we found before people reported it
Number of pieces of content people appealed after we took action on it
Number of pieces of content we restored after we originally took action on it
We have an option to report, whether it’s on a post, a comment, a story, a message or something else.
We help people report things that they don’t think should be on our platform.
We ask people to tell us more about what’s wrong. This helps us send the report to the right place.
After these steps, we submit the report. We also lay out what people should expect next.
After we’ve reviewed the report, we’ll send the reporting user a notification.
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.
If people think we got the decision wrong, they can request another review.
We’ll send a final response after we’ve re-reviewed the content, again to the Support Inbox.
When someone posts something that doesn't follow our rules, we’ll tell them.
We’ll also address common misperceptions and explain why we made the decision to enforce.
We’ll give people easy-to-understand explanations about the relevant rule.
If people disagree with the decision, they can ask for another review and provide more information.
We set expectations about what will happen after the review has been submitted.
We have the same policies around the world, for everyone on Facebook.
Our global team of over 15,000 reviewers work every day to keep people on Facebook safe.
Outside experts, academics, NGOs and policymakers help inform the Facebook Community Standards.
Learn what you can do if you see something on Facebook that goes against our Community Standards.