We restrict the display of nudity or sexual activity because some people in our community may be sensitive to this type of content. Additionally, we default to removing sexual imagery to prevent the sharing of non-consensual or underage content. Restrictions on the display of sexual activity also apply to digitally created content unless it is posted for educational, humorous, or satirical purposes.

Our nudity policies have become more nuanced over time. We understand that nudity can be shared for a variety of reasons, including as a form of protest, to raise awareness about a cause, or for educational or medical reasons.

Where such intent is clear, we make allowances for the content. For example, while we restrict some images of female breasts that include the nipple, we allow other images, including those depicting acts of protest, women actively engaged in breast-feeding and photos of post-mastectomy scarring. For images depicting visible genitalia or the anus in the context of birth and after-birth moments or health-related situations we include a warning label so that people are aware that the content may be sensitive. We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures.

Do not post:

Imagery of real nude adults, if it depicts:
- Visible genitalia except in the context of birth giving and after-birth moments or if there is medical or health context situations (for example, gender confirmation surgery, examination for cancer or disease prevention/assessment).
- Visible anus and/or fully nude close-ups of buttocks unless photoshopped on a public figure.
- Uncovered female nipples except in the context of breastfeeding, birth giving and after-birth moments, medical or health context (for example, post-mastectomy, breast cancer awareness or gender confirmation surgery) or an act of protest.
Imagery of sexual activity, including:
- Explicit sexual activity and stimulation
  - Explicit sexual intercourse or oral sex, defined as mouth or genitals entering or in contact with another person's genitals or anus, where at least one person's genitals are nude.
  - Explicit stimulation of genitalia or anus, defined as stimulating genitalia or anus or inserting objects, including sex toys, into genitalia or anus, where the contact with the genitalia or anus is directly visible.
- Implied sexual activity and stimulation, except in cases of medical or health context, advertisements, and recognized fictional images or with indicators of fiction:
  - Implied sexual intercourse or oral sex, defined as mouth or genitals entering or in contact with another person's genitals or anus, when the genitalia and/or the activity or contact is not directly visible.
  - Implied stimulation of genitalia or anus, defined as stimulating genitalia or anus or inserting objects, including sex toys, into or above genitalia or anus, when the genitalia and/or the activity or contact is not directly visible.
- Other activities, except in cases of medical or health context, advertisements, and recognized fictional images or with indicators of fiction, including but not limited to:
  - Erections
  - Presence of by-products of sexual activity.
  - Sex toys placed upon or inserted into mouth.
  - Stimulation of naked human nipples.
  - Squeezing female breasts, defined as a grabbing motion with curved fingers that shows both marks and clear shape change of the breasts. We allow squeezing in breastfeeding contexts.
- Fetish content that involves:
  - Acts that are likely to lead to the death of a person or animal.
  - Dismemberment.
  - Cannibalism.
  - Feces, urine, spit, snot, menstruation or vomit.
  - Bestiality.
- Adult sexual activity in digital art, except when posted in an educational or scientific context, or when it meets one of the criteria below and shown only to individuals 18 years and older.
Extended audio of sexual activity

For the following content, we include a label so that people are aware the content may be sensitive:

Imagery of visible adult male and female genitalia, fully nude close-ups of buttocks or anus, or implied/other sexual activity, when shared in medical or health context which can include, for example:

Birth-giving and after-birth giving moments, including both natural vaginal delivery and caesarean section
Gender confirmation surgery
Genitalia self-examination for cancer or disease prevention/assessment

We only show this content to individuals 18 and older:

Real world art that depicts implied or explicit sexual activity.
Imagery depicting bestiality in real-world art provided it is shared neutrally or in condemnation and the people or animals depicted are not real.
Implied adult sexual activity in advertisements, recognized fictional images or with indicators of fiction.
Adult sexual activity in digital art, where:
- The sexual activity (intercourse or other sexual activities) isn’t explicit and not part of the above specified fetish content.
- The content was posted in a satirical or humorous context.
- Only body shapes or contours are visible.

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User experiences

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.

USER EXPERIENCE

Reporting

USER EXPERIENCE

Post-report communication

USER EXPERIENCE

Takedown experience

USER EXPERIENCE

Warning screens

Data

Prevalence

Percentage of times people saw violating content

Content actioned

Number of pieces of violating content we took action on

Proactive rate

Percentage of violating content we found before people reported it

Appealed content

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

Restored content

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

Prevalence

Percentage of times people saw violating content

Content actioned

Number of pieces of violating content we took action on

Proactive rate

Percentage of violating content we found before people reported it

Appealed content

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

Restored content

Number of pieces of content 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.

Get started

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

Select a problem

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

Report submitted

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

1 Update via notifications

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

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.