Bullying and Harassment

Tier 1: Universal protections for everyone:

• Everyone is protected from:
  • Unwanted contact that is:
    • Repeated, OR
    • Sexually harassing, OR
    • Is directed at a large number of individuals with no prior solicitation.
  • Calls for self-injury or suicide of a specific person, or group of individuals.
  • Attacks based on their experience of sexual assault, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, or domestic abuse.
  • Statements of intent to engage in a sexual activity or advocating to engage in a sexual activity.
  • Severe sexualized commentary.
  • Derogatory sexualized photoshop or drawings
  • Attacks through derogatory terms related to sexual activity (for example: whore, slut).
  • Claims that a violent tragedy did not occur.
  • Claims that individuals are lying about being a victim of a violent tragedy or terrorist attack, including claims that they are:
    • Acting or pretending to be a victim of a specific event, or
    • Paid or employed to mislead people about their role in the event.

• Threats to release an individual's private phone number, residential address, email address or medical records (as defined in the Privacy Violations policy).
• Calls for, or statements of intent to engage in, bullying and/or harassment.
• Content that degrades or expresses disgust toward individuals who are depicted in the process of, or right after, menstruating, urinating, vomiting, or defecating
• Everyone is protected from the following, but for adult public figures, they must be purposefully exposed to:
  • Calls for death and statements in favor of contracting or developing a medical condition.
  • Celebration or mocking of death or medical condition.
  • Claims about sexually transmitted infections.
  • Derogatory terms related to female gendered cursing.
  • Statements of inferiority about physical appearance.

Tier 2: Additional protections for all Minors, Private Adults and Limited Scope Public Figures (for example, individuals whose primary fame is limited to their activism, journalism, or those who become famous through involuntary means):

• In addition to the universal protections for everyone, all minors (private individuals and public figures), private adults and limited scope public figures are protected from:
  • Claims about sexual activity, except in the context of criminal allegations against adults (non-consensual sexual touching).
  • Content sexualizing another adult (sexualization of minors is covered in the Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Nudity policy).

• All minors (private individuals and public figures), private adults and limited scope public figures) are protected from the following, but for minor public figures, they must be purposefully exposed to:
  • Dehumanizing comparisons (in written or visual form) to or about:
    • Animals and insects, including subhuman creatures, that are culturally perceived as inferior.
    • Bacteria, viruses, microbes, and diseases.
    • Inanimate objects, including trash, filth, feces.

• Content manipulated to highlight, circle, or otherwise negatively draw attention to specific physical characteristics (nose, ear, and so on).
• Content that ranks them based on physical appearance or character traits.
• Content that degrades individuals who are depicted being physically bullied (except in self-defense and fight-sport contexts).

Tier 3: Additional protections for Private Minors, Private Adults, and Minor Involuntary Public Figures:

• In addition to all the protections listed above, all private minors, private adults (who must self-report), and minor involuntary public figures are protected from:
  • Targeted cursing.
  • Claims about romantic involvement, sexual orientation or gender identity.
  • Calls for action, statements of intent, aspirational or conditional statements, or statements advocating or supporting exclusion.
  • Negative character or ability claims, except in the context of criminal allegations and business reviews against adults.
  • Expressions of contempt, disgust, or content rejecting the existence of an individual, except in the context of criminal allegations against adults.

• When self-reported, private minors, private adults, and minor involuntary public figures are protected from the following:
  • First-person voice bullying.
  • Unwanted manipulated imagery.
  • Comparison to other public, fictional or private individuals on the basis of physical appearance.
  • Claims about religious identity or blasphemy
  • Comparisons to animals or insects that are not culturally perceived as intellectually or physically inferior (“tiger," “lion").
  • Neutral or positive physical descriptions.
  • Non-negative character or ability claims.
  • Attacks through derogatory terms related to a lack of sexual activity.

Tier 4: Additional protections for Private Minors only:

• Minors get the most protection under our policy. In addition to all the protections listed above, private minors are also protected from:
  • Allegations about criminal or illegal behavior.
  • Videos of physical bullying against minors, shared in a non-condemning context.
  • Videos of physical bullying against minors, shared in a condemning context, where we add a cover so people can choose whether to see it.

Bullying and harassment through pages, groups, events and messages

• The protections of Tiers 1 through 4 are also enforced on pages, groups, events and messages.

Do not:

• Post content that targets private individuals through unwanted Pages, Groups and Events. We remove this content when it is reported by the target or an authorized representative of the target.
• Post content described above that would otherwise require the target to report the content or where the content an indicates that the poster is directly targeting the target (for example: the target is tagged in the post or comment). We will remove this content if we have confirmation from the target or an authorized representative of the target (alive or deceased) that the content is unwanted.
• Post content calling for or stating an intent to engage in behavior that would qualify as bullying and harassment under our policies. We will remove this content when we have confirmation from the target or an authorized representative of the target that the content is unwanted.
• Post content sexualizing a public figure. We will remove this content when we have confirmation from the target or an authorized representative of the target that the content is unwanted.
• Initiate contact that is sexually harassing the recipient. We will remove any content shared in an unwanted context when we have a confirmation from the recipient, or an authorized representative of the recipient that contact is unwanted.
• Remove directed mass harassment, when:
  • Targeting, via any surface, ‘individuals at heightened risk of offline harm’, defined as:
    • Human rights defenders
    • Minors
    • Victims of violent events/tragedies
    • Opposition figures in at-risk countries during election periods
    • Election officials
    • Government dissidents who have been targeted based on their dissident status
    • Ethnic and religious minorities in conflict zones
    • Member of a designated and recognizable at-risk group
  • Targeting any individual via personal surfaces, such as inbox or profiles, with:
    • Content that violates the bullying and harassment policies for private individuals or,
    • Objectionable content that is based on a protected characteristic
• Disable accounts engaged in mass harassment as part of either
  • State or state-affiliated networks targeting any individual via any surface.
  • Adversarial networks targeting any individual via any surface with:
    • Content that violates the bullying and harassment policies for private individuals or,
    • Content that targets them based on a protected characteristic, or,
    • Content or behavior otherwise deemed to be objectionable in local context