Facebook Community Standards
Policies that outline what is and isn't allowed on the Facebook app.
Instagram Community Guidelines
Policies that outline what is and isn't allowed on the Instagram app.
Meta Advertising Standards
Policies for ad content and business assets.
Other policies
Other policies that apply to Meta technologies.
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Our approach to misinformation
How we work with independent fact-checkers, and more, to identify and take action on misinformation.
Our approach to newsworthy content
How we assess content for newsworthiness.
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How we reduce problematic content in News Feed.
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Comprehensive access to public data from Facebook and Instagram
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Community Standards Enforcement Report
Quarterly report on how well we're doing at enforcing our policies on the Facebook app and Instagram.
Intellectual Property
Report on how well we're helping people protect their intellectual property.
Government Requests for User Data
Report on government request for people's data.
Content Restrictions Based on Local Law
Report on when we restrict content that's reported to us as violating local law.
Internet Disruptions
Report on intentional internet restrictions that limit people's ability to access the internet.
Widely Viewed Content Report
Quarterly report on what people see on Facebook, including the content that receives the widest distribution during the quarter.
Regulatory and Other Transparency Reports
Download current and past regulatory reports for Facebook and Instagram.
Account Integrity and Authentic Identity
Policy details
Change log
CHANGE LOG
Change log
Today
Current version
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Policy Rationale
Authenticity is the cornerstone of our community. We believe that authenticity helps create a community where people are accountable to each other, and to Facebook, in meaningful ways. We want to allow for the range of diverse ways that identity is expressed across our global community, while also preventing impersonation and identity misrepresentation. That is why we require people to create a Facebook account using the name they go by in everyday life. Our authenticity policies are intended to create a safe environment where people can trust and hold one another accountable.
In order to maintain a safe environment and empower free expression, we remove accounts that are harmful to the community, including those that compromise the security of other accounts and our services. We have built a combination of automated and manual systems to block and remove accounts that are used to persistently or egregiously abuse our Community Standards.
Because account level removal is a severe action, whenever possible, we aim to give our community a chance to learn our rules and follow our Community Standards. Penalties, including account disables, are designed to be proportionate to the severity of the violation and the risk of harm posed to the community. Continued violations, despite repeated warnings and restrictions, or violations that pose severe safety risks will lead to an account being disabled.
We do not allow the use of our services and will restrict or disable accounts or other entities (such as pages, groups, and events) if you:
- Severely violate our Community Standards.
- Persistently violate our Community Standards.
- Coordinate as part of a network of accounts or other entities in order to violate or evade our Community Standards.
- Represent Dangerous Individuals or Organizations.
- Create or use an account that demonstrates an intent to violate our Community Standards.
- Create or use an account by scripted or other inauthentic means.
- Create an account, Page, Group or Event to evade our enforcement actions, including creating an account to bypass a restriction or after we have disabled your previous account, Page, Group or Event.
- Create or use an account that deliberately misrepresents your identity in order to mislead or deceive others, or to evade enforcement or violate our other Community Standards. We consider a number of factors when assessing misleading identity misrepresentation, such as:
- Repeated or significant changes to identity details, such as name or age
- Misleading profile information, such as bio details and profile location
- Using stock imagery or stolen photos
- Other related account activity
- Impersonate others by:
- Using their photos with the explicit aim to deceive others.
- Creating an account assuming to be or speak for another person or entity.
- Creating a Page assuming to be or speak for another person or entity for whom the user is not authorized to do so.
- Are under 13 years old.
- Are a convicted sex offender.
- Are prohibited from receiving our products, services or software under applicable laws.
In certain cases, such as those outlined below, we will seek further information about an account before taking actions ranging from temporarily restricting accounts to permanently disabling them.
- Accounts misrepresenting their identity (Facebook and Messenger only) by:
- Creating an account using a name that is not the authentic name you go by in everyday life
- Using an inherently violating name, containing slurs or any other violations of the Community Standards
- Providing a false date of birth.
- Creating a single account that represents or is used by more than one person.
- Maintaining multiple accounts as a single user.
- Creating an account using a name that is not the authentic name you go by in everyday life
- Compromised accounts.
- Empty accounts with prolonged dormancy.
User experiencesSee 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.
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
Get 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 got the decision wrong, 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 doesn't follow our rules, we’ll tell them.
2
Additional context
We’ll also address common misperceptions and explain why we made the decision to enforce.
3
Policy Explanation
We’ll give people easy-to-understand explanations about the relevant rule.
4
Option for review
If people disagree with the decision, they can ask for another review and provide more information.
5
Final decision
We set expectations about what will happen after the review has been submitted.
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 account integrity and authentic identityLearn what you can do if you see something on Facebook that goes against our Community Standards.
