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Community Guidelines.md
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Community Guidelines.md
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Facebook Community Standards
============================
The Facebook Community Standards outline what is and isn't allowed on Facebook.
### Introduction
Every day, people use Facebook to share their experiences, connect with friends and family, and build communities. It’s a service for more than 2 billion people to freely express themselves across countries and cultures and in dozens of languages.
Meta recognizes how important it is for Facebook to be a place where people feel empowered to communicate, and we take our role seriously in keeping abuse off the service. That’s why we developed standards for what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook.
These standards are based on feedback from people and the advice of experts in fields like technology, public safety and human rights. To ensure everyone’s voice is valued, we take great care to create standards that include different views and beliefs, especially from people and communities that might otherwise be overlooked or marginalized.
**Please note that the US English version of the Community Standards reflects the most up to date set of the policies and should be used as the primary document.**
### Our commitment to voice
The goal of our Community Standards is to create a place for expression and give people a voice. Meta wants people to be able to talk openly about the issues that matter to them, whether through written comments, photos, music, or other artistic mediums, even if some may disagree or find them objectionable. In some cases, we allow content—which would otherwise go against our standards—if it’s [newsworthy](https://transparency.fb.com/features/approach-to-newsworthy-content/) and in the public interest. We do this only after weighing the public interest value against the risk of harm, and we look to international human rights standards to make these judgments. In other cases, we may remove content that uses ambiguous or implicit language when additional context allows us to reasonably understand that the content goes against our standards.
Our commitment to expression is paramount, but we recognize the internet creates new and increased opportunities for abuse. For these reasons, when we limit expression, we do it in service of one or more of the following values:
AUTHENTICITY
------------
We want to make sure the content people see on Facebook is authentic. We believe that authenticity creates a better environment for sharing, and that’s why we don’t want people using Facebook to misrepresent who they are or what they’re doing.
SAFETY
------
We’re committed to making Facebook a safe place. We remove content that could contribute to a risk of harm to the physical security of persons. Content that threatens people has the potential to intimidate, exclude or silence others and isn’t allowed on Facebook.
PRIVACY
-------
We’re committed to protecting personal privacy and information. Privacy gives people the freedom to be themselves, choose how and when to share on Facebook and connect more easily.
DIGNITY
-------
We believe that all people are equal in dignity and rights. We expect that people will respect the dignity of others and not harass or degrade others.
### Community Standards
Our Community Standards apply to everyone, all around the world, and to all types of content, including AI-generated content.
Each section of our Community Standards starts with a “Policy Rationale” that sets out the aims of the policy followed by specific policy lines that outline:
Content that's not allowed; and
Content that requires additional information or context to enforce on, content that is allowed with a warning screen or content that is allowed but can only be viewed by adults aged 18 and older.
Violence and Incitement
=======================
#### Policy Rationale
We aim to prevent potential offline violence that may be related to content on our platforms. While we understand that people commonly express disdain or disagreement by threatening or calling for violence in non-serious and casual ways, we remove language that incites or facilitates violence and credible threats to public or personal safety. This includes violent speech targeting a person or group of people on the basis of their protected characteristic(s) or immigration status. Context matters, so we consider various factors such as condemnation or awareness raising of violent threats, non-credible threats directed at terrorists or other violent actors (e.g. "Terrorists deserve to be killed") or the public visibility and vulnerability of the target of the threats. We remove content, disable accounts, and also work with law enforcement when we believe there is a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety.
#### We Remove:
We remove threats of violence against various targets. Threats of violence are statements or visuals representing an intention, aspiration, or call for violence against a target, and threats can be expressed in various types of statements such as statements of intent, calls for action, advocacy, aspirational statements and conditional statements.
**We do not prohibit threats when shared in awareness-raising or condemning context, when less severe threats are made in the context of contact sports, or when threats are directed against certain violent actors, like terrorist groups.**
**Universal protections for everyone**
Everyone is protected from the following threats:
* Threats of violence that could lead to death (or other forms of high-severity violence)
* Threats of violence that could lead to serious injury (mid-severity violence). We remove such threats against public figures and groups not based on protected characteristics when credible, and we remove them against any other targets (including groups based on protected characteristics) regardless of credibility
* Admissions to high-severity or mid-severity violence (in written or verbal form, or visually depicted by the perpetrator or an associate), except when shared in a context of redemption, self-defense, contact sports (mid-severity or less), or when committed by law enforcement, military or state security personnel
* Threats or depictions of kidnappings or abductions, unless it is clear that the content is being shared by a victim or their family as a plea for help, or shared for informational, condemnation or awareness-raising purposes
**Additional protections for Private Adults, All Children, high-risk persons and persons or groups based on their protected characteristics:**
In addition to the universal protections for everyone, all private adults (when self-reported), children and persons or groups of people targeted on the basis of their protected characteristic(s), are protected from threats of low-severity violence.
**Other Violence**
In addition to all of the protections listed above, we remove the following:
* Content that asks for, offers, or admits to offering services of high-severity violence (for example, hitmen, mercenaries, assassins, female genital mutilation) or advocates for the use of these services
* Instructions on how to make or use weapons where there is language explicitly stating the goal to seriously injure or kill people, or imagery that shows or simulates the end result, unless in the context of recreational self-defense, training by a country’s military, commercial video games, or news coverage (posted by Page or with news logo).
* Instructions on how to make or use explosives, unless with context that the content is for a non-violent purpose (for example, part of commercial video games, clear scientific/educational purpose, fireworks, or specifically for fishing)
* Threats to take up weapons or to bring weapons to a location or forcibly enter a location (including but not limited to places of worship, educational facilities, polling places or locations used to count votes or administer an election), or locations where there are temporary signals of a heightened risk of violence.
* Threats of violence related to voting, voter registration, or the administration or outcome of an election, even if there is no target.
#### For the following Community Standards, we require additional information and/or context to enforce:
We Remove:
* Threats against law enforcement officers or election officials, regardless of their public figure status or credibility of the threat.
* Coded statements where the method of violence is not clearly articulated, but the threat is veiled or implicit, as shown by the combination of both a threat signal and contextual signal from the list below.
* Threat: a coded statement that is one of the following:
* Shared in a retaliatory context (e.g., expressions of desire to engage in violence against others in response to a grievance or threat that may be real, perceived or anticipated)
* References to historical or fictional incidents of violence (e.g., content that threatens others by referring to known historical incidents of violence that have been committed throughout history or in fictional settings)
* Acts as a threatening call to action (e.g., content inviting or encouraging others to carry out violent acts or to join in carrying out the violent acts)
* Indicates knowledge of or shares sensitive information that could expose others to violence (e.g., content that either makes note of or implies awareness of personal information that might make a threat of violence more credible. This includes implying knowledge of a person's residential address, their place of employment or education, daily commute routes or current location)
* Context
* Local context or expertise confirms that the statement in question could lead to imminent violence.
* The target of the content or an authorized representative reports the content to us.
* Implicit threats to bring armaments to locations, including but not limited to places of worship, educational facilities, polling places or locations used to count votes or administer an election (or encouraging others to do the same) or locations where there are temporary signals of a heightened risk of violence.
* Claims or speculation about election-related corruption, irregularities, or bias when combined with a signal that content is threatening violence (e.g., threats to take up or bring a weapon, visual depictions of a weapon, references to arson, theft, vandalism), including:
* Targeting individual(s)
* Targeting a specific location (state or smaller)
* Where the target is not explicit
* References to election-related gatherings or events when combined with a signal that content is threatening violence (e.g., threats to take up or bring a weapon, visual depictions of a weapon, references to arson, theft, vandalism).
Read lessRead more
Dangerous Organizations and Individuals
=======================================
#### Policy Rationale
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.
* E.g. “Breaking News: Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack in Somalia”
* E.g. “Timeline and expert analysis: How the shooting at the Buffalo Supermarket unfolded and what did the perpetrator say in court”
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.
* E.g. “Al Qaeda represents less threat than ISIS given the lack of leadership and finance”
* E.g. “Anders Breivik is one example of how complex the radicalization process can be”
Condemnation includes disapproval, disgust, rejection, criticism, mockery, and other negative expressions about a designated dangerous organization or individual and their behavior.
* E.g. “ I feel disgusted by the crime of Salvador Ramos. The judge’s words resonated so much to me. He should get no mercy by the court”
* E.g. “Hitler’s crimes shall never be forgotten ever. These were some of the darkest moments in history”
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](https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Facebooks-Corporate-Human-Rights-Policy.pdf) for more information about our commitment to internationally recognized human rights.
#### We Remove:
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:
* Speak positively about a designated entity or event;
* E.g., “The fighters for the Islamic State are really brave!”
* Give a designated entity or event a sense of achievement;
* E.g., “Timothy McVeigh is a martyr.”
* Legitimizing the cause of a designated entity by making claims that their hateful, violent, or criminal conduct is legally, morally, or otherwise justified or acceptable;
* E.g., “Hitler did nothing wrong.”
* Aligning oneself ideologically with a designated entity or event.
* E.g., “I stand with Brenton Tarrant.”
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:
* Any act which improves the financial status of a designated entity - including funnelling money towards, or away from a designated entity;
* E.g., “Donate to the KKK!”
* Any act which provides material aid to a designated entity or event;
* E.g., “If you want to send care packages to the Sinaloa Cartel, use this address:”
* Putting out a call to action on behalf of a designated entity or event;
* E.g., “Contact the Atomwaffen Division - (XXX) XXX-XXXX”
* Recruiting on behalf of a designated entity or event;
* E.g., “If you want to fight for the Caliphate, DM me”
* Channeling information or resources, including official communications, on behalf of a designated entity or event
* E.g., Directly quoting a designated entity without caption that condemns, neutrally discusses, or is a part of news reporting.
We remove Substantive Support of Tier 1 and Tier 2 entities and designated events.
**Representation**, defined as any of the below:
* Stating that you are a member of a designated entity, or are a designated entity;
* E.g., “I am a grand dragon of the KKK.”
* Creating a Page, Profile, Event, Group, or other Facebook entity that is or purports to be owned by a Designated Entity or run on their behalf, or is or purports to be a designated event.
* E.g., A Page named “American Nazi Party.”
We remove Representation of Tier 1 and 2 Designated Organizations, Hate-Banned Entities, and designated events.
#### Types and Tiers of Dangerous Organizations
**_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:
* Engages in, advocates, or lends substantial support to purposive and planned acts of violence,
* Which causes or attempts to cause death, injury or serious harm to civilians, or any other person not taking direct part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, and/or significant damage to property linked to death, serious injury or serious harm to civilians
* With the intent to coerce, intimidate and/or influence a civilian population, government, or international organization
* In order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim.
**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:
* Violence, threatening rhetoric, or dangerous forms of harassment targeting people based on their protected characteristics;
* Repeated use of [hate speech](https://transparency.fb.com/en-gb/policies/community-standards/hate-speech/);
* Representation of Hate Ideologies or other designated Hate Entities, and/or
* Glorification or substantive support of other designated Hate Entities or Hate Ideologies.
**Criminal Organizations**, defined as an association of three or more people that:
* is united under a name, color(s), hand gesture(s) or recognized indicia; and
* has engaged in or threatens to engage in criminal activity such as homicide, drug trafficking, or kidnapping.
**Multiple-Victim Violence and Serial Murders**
* We consider an event to be multiple-victim violence or attempted multiple-victim violence if it results in three or more casualties in one incident, defined as deaths or serious injuries. Any Individual who has committed such an attack is considered to be a perpetrator or an attempted perpetrator of multiple-victim violence.
* We consider any individual who has committed two or more murders over multiple incidents or locations a serial murderer.
**Hateful Ideologies**
* While our designations of organizations and individuals focus on behavior, we also recognize that there are certain ideologies and beliefs that are inherently tied to violence and attempts to organize people around calls for violence or exclusion of others based on their protected characteristics. In these cases, we designate the ideology itself and remove content that supports this ideology from our platform. These ideologies include:
* Nazism
* White Supremacy
* White Nationalism
* White Separatism
* We remove explicit Praise, Substantive Support, and Representation of these ideologies, and remove individuals and organizations that ascribe to one or more of these 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:
* engages in purposive and planned acts of violence primarily against a government military or other armed communities; and
* that causes or attempts to
* cause death to persons taking direct part in hostilities in an armed conflict, and/or
* deprive communities of access to vital infrastructure and natural resources, and/or bring significant damage to property, linked to death, serious injury or serious harm to civilians
**_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](https://about.fb.com/news/2020/08/addressing-movements-and-organizations-tied-to-violence/) 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:
* **Militia Communities**, defined as non-state actors that use weapons as a part of their training, communication, or presence; and are structured or operate as unofficial military or security forces and:
* Coordinate in preparation for violence or civil war; or
* Distribute information about the tactical use of weapons for combat; or
* Coordinate militarized tactical coordination in a present or future armed civil conflict or civil war.
* **Communities supporting violent acts amid protests**, defined as non-State actors that repeatedly:
* Coordinate, promote, admit to or engage in:
* Acts of street violence against civilians or law enforcement; or
* Arson, Looting, or other destruction of property; or
* Threaten to violently disrupt an election process; or
* Promote bringing weapons to a location when the stated intent is to intimidate people amid a protest.
**Violence-Inducing Conspiracy Networks (VICNs)**, defined as a Non-State Actor that:
* Organizes under a name, sign, mission statement, or symbol; and
* Promote theories that attribute violent or dehumanizing behavior to people or organizations that have been debunked by credible sources; and
* Has inspired multiple incidents of real-world violence by adherents motivated by the desire to draw attention to or redress the supposed harms promoted by these debunked theories.
**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.
#### 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 satirized or attributed to something or someone else in order to mock or criticize them.
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Coordinating Harm and Promoting Crime
=====================================
#### Policy Rationale
In an effort to prevent and disrupt offline harm and copycat behavior, we prohibit people from facilitating, organizing, promoting or admitting to certain criminal or harmful activities targeted at people, businesses, property or animals. We allow people to debate and advocate for the legality of criminal and harmful activities, as well as draw attention to harmful or criminal activity that they may witness or experience as long as they do not advocate for or coordinate harm.
#### We Remove:
**Harm against people**
* Outing: exposing the identity or locations affiliated with anyone who is alleged to:
* Be a member of an outing-risk group; and/or
* Share familial and/or romantic relationships with a member(s) of an outing-risk group; and/or
* Have performed professional activities in support of an outing-risk group (except for political figures)
* Outing the undercover status of law enforcement, military, or security personnel if the content contains the agent’s name, their face or badge and any of the following:
* The agent’s law enforcement organization
* The agent’s law enforcement operation
* Explicit mentions of their undercover status
* Coordinating, threatening, supporting, or admitting to swatting except in the context of awareness raising or condemnation, fictional or staged settings or redemption.
* Depicting, promoting, advocating for or encouraging participation in a high-risk viral challenge except in the context of awareness raising or condemnation. Where imagery is depicted in these contexts, we include a label so that people are aware that the content may be sensitive.
**Harm against animals**
* Coordinating, threatening, supporting or admitting to acts of physical harm against animals (in written, visual or verbal form) except in cases of:
* Awareness-raising or condemnation
* Redemption
* Survival or defense of self, another human or another animal
* Fictional or staged settings EXCEPT where it depicts staged animal fights or fake animal rescues
* Hunting or fishing
* Religious sacrifice
* Food preparation or processing
* Pests or vermin
* Mercy killing
* Bullfighting
* Coordinating, threatening, supporting, depicting or admitting to staged animal fights or depicting video imagery of fake animal rescues except in the context of awareness raising or condemnation or redemption.
**Harm against property**
* Coordinating, threatening, supporting or admitting to vandalism, theft or malicious hacking (in written, visual or verbal form) , except in the context of
* Awareness raising or condemnation,
* Redemption,
* Fictional or staged settings,
* Admitting in the context of defense of self, or another human
* depicting vandalism in protest context,
* depicting graffiti, or
* speaking positively about vandalism and theft committed by others.
**Voter and/or census fraud**
* Offers to buy or sell votes with cash, gifts, services or other material goods, except if shared in condemning, awareness raising, news reporting, or humorous or satirical contexts.
* Advocating, providing instructions for, or demonstrating explicit intent to illegally participate in a voting or census process, except if shared in condemning, awareness raising, news reporting, or humorous or satirical contexts.
#### For the following content, we include a label so that people are aware the content may be sensitive:
* Imagery depicting a high-risk viral challenge if shared condemning or raising awareness of the associated risks.
#### For the following Community Standards, we require additional information and/or context to enforce:
We Remove:
* Outing: exposing the identity of a person and putting them at risk of harm:
* LGBTQIA+ members
* Unveiled women
* Non-convicted individuals as predators in the context of a sexual predator Sting Operation
* Individuals involved in legal cases, when their involvement is restricted from public disclosure
* Witnesses, informants , activists, detained persons or hostages
* Defectors, when reported by credible government channel
* Prisoners of war, in the context of an armed conflict
* Imagery that is likely to deceive the public as to its origin if:
* The entity depicted or an authorized representative objects to the imagery, and
* The imagery has the potential to cause harm to members of the public.
* Statement of intent, call to action, or encouragement to either:
* Block access to essential services when there is confirmation or publicly available confirmation that emergency vehicles are blocked, OR
* Target an individual or specific group of people by blocking their access to essential services or unobstructed passage in a way that may threaten their safety
* Voter or census interference, including:
* Calls for coordinated interference that would affect an individual’s ability to participate in an official election or census.
* Claims that voting or census participation may or will result in law enforcement consequences (for example, arrest, deportation or imprisonment).
* Threats to go to an election site to monitor or watch voters or election officials’ activities if combined with a reference to intimidation (e.g., “Let’s show them who's boss!,”, “They want a war? We’ll give them a war.”).
* Threats to go to a post-election activity site if combined with a reference to intimidation (e.g., “Let’s show them who's boss!,”, “They want a war? We’ll give them a war.”).
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Restricted Goods and Services
=============================
#### 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. We do not tolerate the exchange or sale of any drugs that may result in substance abuse covered under our policies below. 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 organizations or non-profits, 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.
* Attempts to buy, sell, or trade machine gun conversion devices
**High-risk drugs (drugs that have a high potential for misuse, addiction, or are associated with serious health risks, including overdose; e.g., cocaine, fentanyl, heroin).**
Content that:
* Attempts to buy, sell, trade, co-ordinate the trade of, donate, gift or ask for high-risk drugs.
* Admits to buying, trading or co-ordinating the trade of high-risk 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 high-risk drugs.
* Coordinates or promotes (by which we mean speaks positively about, encourages the use of, or provides instructions to use or make) high-risk drugs.
**Non-medical drugs (drugs or substances that are not being used for an intended medical purposes or are used to achieve a high - this includes precursor chemicals or substances that are used for the production of these drugs.)**
Content that:
* Attempts to buy, sell, trade, co-ordinate the trade of, donate, gift or asks for non-medical drugs.
* Admits to buying, trading or co-ordinating 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 or their parts committed by the poster of the content by themselves or their associates.
* 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 artifacts**
* Content that attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift or asks for historical artifacts.
**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 21 years of age and older:
**Firearms**
* Content posted by or promoting legitimate brick-and-mortar store, 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 18 years of age and older:
**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 of 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 satirized or attributed to something or someone else in order to mock or criticize them.
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Fraud and Deception
===================
#### Policy Rationale
In an effort to prevent fraudulent activity on the platform which can harm people or businesses, we remove content and action on behaviors which intend to defraud users or third parties. Therefore we remove content that purposefully intends to deceive, willfully misrepresent or otherwise exploit others for money or property. This includes content that seeks to coordinate or promote these activities using our platform. We allow people to raise awareness and educate others as well as condemn these activities, unless this includes content that contains sensitive information, such as personally identifiable information.
#### Do not post:
Content that provides instructions on, engages in, promotes, coordinates, encourages, facilitates, recruits for, or admits to the offering or solicitation of any of the following activities:
* Deceiving others to generate a financial or personal benefit to the detriment of a third party or entity through:
* Investment or financial scams:
* Loan scams
* Advance fee scams.
* Gambling scams
* Ponzi or pyramid schemes.
* Money or cash flips or money muling.
* Investment scams with promise of high rates of return.
* Inauthentic identity scams:
* Charity scams.
* Romance or impersonation scams
* Establishment of false businesses or entities.
* Product or rewards scams:
* Grant and benefits scams.
* Tangible, spiritual or illuminati scams.
* Insurance scams, including ghost broking
* Fake jobs, work from home or get-rich-quick scams.
* Debt relief or credit repair scams.
* Engaging and co-ordinating with others to fraudulently generate a financial or personal benefit at a loss for a third party, such as people, businesses or organisations through:
* Fake documents or financial instruments by:
* Creating, selling or buying of:
* Fake or forged documents.
* Fake or counterfeit currency or vouchers.
* Fake or forged educational and professional certificates.
* Money laundering
* Stolen information, goods, or services by:
* Credit card fraud and goods or property purchases with stolen financial information
* Trading, selling or buying of:
* Personal Identifiable Information.
* Fake and misleading user reviews or ratings.
* Credentials for subscription services.
* Coupons.
* Sharing, selling, trading, or buying of:
* Future exam papers or answer sheets.
* Betting manipulation (for example match fixing).
* Manipulation of measuring devices such as electricity or water meters in order to bypass their authorised or legal use.
#### For the following Community Standards, we require additional information and/or context to enforce:
Do not post:
Content that engages in, promotes, encourages, facilitates, or admits to the following activities:
* Bribery.
* Embezzlement.
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 satirized or attributed to something or someone else in order to mock or criticize them.
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Suicide and Self Injury
=======================
#### Policy Rationale
We care deeply about the safety of the people who use our apps. We regularly consult with experts in suicide and self-injury to help inform our policies and enforcement, and work with organizations around the world to provide assistance to people in distress.
While we do not allow people to intentionally or unintentionally celebrate or promote suicide or self-injury, we do allow people to discuss these topics because we want Facebook to be a space where people can share their experiences, raise awareness about these issues, and seek support from one another.
We define self-injury as the intentional and direct injuring of the body, including self-mutilation and eating disorders. We remove any content that encourages suicide or self-injury, including fictional content such as memes or illustrations and any self-injury content which is graphic, regardless of context. We also remove content that identifies and negatively targets victims or survivors of suicide or self-injury seriously, humorously or rhetorically, as well as real time depictions of suicide or self-injury. Content about recovery of suicide or self-harm that is allowed, but may contain imagery that could be upsetting, such as a healed scar, is placed behind a sensitivity screen.
When people post or search for suicide or self-injury- related content, we will direct them to local organizations that can provide support and if our Community Operations team is concerned about immediate harm we will contact local emergency services to get them help. For more information, visit the [Facebook Safety Center.](https://www.facebook.com/safety/wellbeing/suicideprevention)
With respect to live content, experts have told us that if someone is saying they intend to attempt suicide on a livestream, we should leave the content up for as long as possible, because the longer someone is talking to a camera, the more opportunity there is for a friend or family member to call emergency services.
However, to minimize the risk of others being negatively impacted by viewing this content, we will stop the livestream at the point at which the threat turns into an attempt. As mentioned above, in any case, we will contact emergency services if we identify someone is at immediate risk of harming themselves.
#### Do not post:
Content that promotes, encourages, coordinates, or provides instructions for
* Suicide.
* Self-injury.
* Eating disorders.
Content that depicts graphic self-injury imagery
It is against our policies to post content depicting a person who engaged in a suicide attempt or death by suicide
Content that focuses on depiction of ribs, collar bones, thigh gaps, hips, concave stomach, or protruding spine or scapula when shared together with terms associated with eating disorders
Content that contains instructions for drastic and unhealthy weight loss when shared together with terms associated with eating disorders.
Content that mocks victims or survivors of suicide, self-injury or eating disorders who are either publicly known or implied to have experienced suicide or self-injury
#### For the following content, we restrict content to adults over the age of 18, and include a sensitivity screen so that people are aware the content may be upsetting:
* Photos or videos depicting a person who engaged in euthanasia/assisted suicide in a medical setting.
#### For the following content, we include a sensitivity screen so that people are aware the content may be upsetting to some:
* Content that depicts older instances of self-harm such as healed cuts or other non-graphic self-injury imagery in a self-injury, suicide or recovery context.
* Content that depicts ribs, collar bones, thigh gaps, hips, concave stomach, or protruding spine or scapula in a recovery context.
#### We provide resources to people who post written or verbal admissions of engagement in self injury, including:
* Suicide.
* Euthanasia/assisted suicide.
* Self-harm.
* Eating disorders.
* Vague, potentially suicidal statements or references (including memes or stock imagery about sad mood or depression) in a suicide or self-injury context.
#### For the following Community Standards, we require additional information and/or context to enforce:
* We may remove suicide notes when we have confirmation of a suicide or suicide attempt. We try to identify suicide notes using several factors, including but not limited to, family or legal representative requests, media reports, law enforcement reports or other third party sources (e.g. government agencies, NGOs).
* A suicide note may also be removed when reported through the [Suicidal Content Contact Form](https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/305410456169423/) or [Instagram Contact Form](https://help.instagram.com/contact/383679321740945/) when we have confirmation of a suicide or suicide attempt
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Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Nudity
===========================================
#### Policy Rationale
We do not allow content or activity that sexually exploits or endangers children. When we become aware of apparent child exploitation, we report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), in compliance with applicable law. We know that sometimes people share nude images of their own children with good intentions; however, we generally remove these images because of the potential for abuse by others and to help avoid the possibility of other people reusing or misappropriating the images.
We also work with external experts, including the [Facebook Safety Advisory Board](https://www.facebook.com/help/222332597793306?ref=ccs), to discuss and improve our policies and enforcement around online safety issues, especially with regard to children. Learn more about the [technology we’re using to fight against child exploitation](https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/10/fighting-child-exploitation/).
#### Do not post:
**Child sexual exploitation**
Content, activity or interactions that threaten, depict, praise, support, provide instructions for, make statements of intent, admit participation in or share links of the sexual exploitation of children (including real minors, toddlers or babies or non-real depictions with a human likeness, such as in art, AI-generated content, fictional characters, dolls, etc). This includes but is not limited to:
* Sexual intercourse
* Explicit sexual intercourse or oral sex, defined as mouth or genitals entering or in contact with another person's genitals or anus, when at least one person's genitals or anus is visible.
* Implied sexual intercourse or oral sex, including when contact is imminent or not directly visible.
* Stimulation of genitals or anus, including when activity is imminent or not directly visible.
* Any of the above involving an animal.
* Children with sexual elements, including but not limited to:
* Restraints
* Signs of arousal
* Focus on genitals or anus
* Presence of aroused adult
* Presence of sex toys or use of any object for sexual stimulation, gratification, or sexual abuse
* Sexualized costume
* Stripping
* Staged environment (for example, on a bed) or professionally shot (quality/focus/angles)
* Open-mouth kissing
* Stimulation of human nipples or squeezing of female breast (EXCEPT in the context of breastfeeding)
* Presence of by-products of sexual activity
* Content invovling children in a sexual fetish context
* Content that supports, promotes, advocates or encourages participation in pedophilia unless it is discussed neutrally in a health context
* Content that identifies or mocks alleged victims of child sexual exploitation by name or image.
**Solicitation**
Content that solicits sexual content or activity depicting or involving children, defined as:
* Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)
* Nude imagery of real or non-real children
* Sexualized imagery of real or non-real children
Content that solicits sexual encounters with children
**Inappropriate interactions with children**
Content that constitutes or facilitates inappropriate interactions with children, such as:
* Arranging or planning real-world sexual encounters with children
* Purposefully exposing children to sexually explicit language or sexual material
* Engaging in implicitly sexual conversations in private messages with children
* Obtaining or requesting sexual material from children in private messages
**Exploitative intimate imagery and sextortion**
Content that attempts to exploit real children by:
* Coercing money, favors or intimate imagery with threats to expose intimate imagery or information.
* Sharing, threatening or stating an intent to share private sexual conversations or intimate imagery.
**Sexualization of children**
* Content (including photos, videos, real-world art, digital content, and verbal depictions) that sexualizes real or non-real children.
* Groups, Pages and profiles dedicated to sexualizing real or non-real children.
**Child nudity**
Content that depicts real or non-real child nudity where nudity is defined as:
* Close-ups of real or non-real children’s genitalia
* Real or non-real nude toddlers, showing:
* Visible genitalia, even when covered or obscured by transparent clothing.
* Visible anus and/or fully nude close-up of buttocks.
* Real or non-real nude minors, showing:
* Visible genitalia (including genitalia obscured only by pubic hair or transparent clothing)
* Visible anus and/or fully nude close-up of buttocks.
* Uncovered female nipples.
* No clothes from neck to knee - even if no genitalia or female nipples are showing.
* Unless the non-real imagery is for health purposes or is a non-sexual depiction of child nudity in real-word art
**Non-sexual child abuse**
Videos or photos that depict real or non-real non-sexual child abuse regardless of sharing intent, unless the imagery is from real-world art, cartoons, movies or video games
Content that praises, supports, promotes, advocates for, provides instructions for or encourages participation in non-sexual child abuse.
#### For the following content, we include a warning screen so that people are aware the content may be disturbing and limit the ability to view the content to adults, ages eighteen and older:
* Videos or photos that depict police officers or military personnel committing non-sexual child abuse.
* Videos or photos of non-sexual child abuse, when law enforcement, child protection agencies, or trusted safety partners request that we leave the content on the platform for the express purpose of bringing a child back to safety.
#### For the following content, we include a sensitivity screen so that people are aware the content may be upsetting to some:
* Videos or photos of violent immersion of a child in water in the context of religious rituals.
#### For the following Community Standards, we require additional information and/or context to enforce:
For the following content, we include a warning label so that people are aware that the content may be sensitive:
* Imagery posted by a news agency that depicts child nudity in the context of famine, genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity, unless accompanied by a violating caption or shared in a violating context, in which case the content is removed.
We may also remove imagery depicting the aftermath of non-sexual child abuse when reported by news media partners, NGOs or other trusted safety partners.
We may remove content that identifies alleged victims of child sexual exploitation through means other than name or image if content includes information that is likely to lead to the identification of the individual.
We may remove content created for the purpose of identifying a private minor if there is a risk to the minor’s safety, when requested by Law Enforcement, Government, Trusted Partner, or the content is self-reported by the minor or the minor’s parent/legal guardian
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Adult Sexual Exploitation
=========================
#### Policy Rationale
We recognize the importance of Facebook as a place to discuss and draw attention to sexual violence and exploitation. In an effort to create space for this conversation and promote a safe environment, we allow victims to share their experiences, but remove content that depicts, threatens or promotes sexual violence, sexual assault, or sexual exploitation. We also remove content that displays, advocates for or coordinates sexual acts with non-consenting parties to avoid facilitating non-consensual sexual acts.
To protect victims and survivors, we remove images that depict incidents of sexual violence and intimate images shared without the consent of the person(s) pictured. As noted in the introduction, we also work with external safety experts to discuss and improve our policies and enforcement around online safety issues, and we may remove content when they provide information that content is linked to harmful activity. We have written about the [technology we use to protect against intimate images](https://about.fb.com/news/2019/03/detecting-non-consensual-intimate-images/) and the [research that has informed our work](https://about.fb.com/news/2019/03/protecting-intimate-images/). We’ve also put together a [guide to reporting and removing intimate images shared without your consent](https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/not-without-my-consent.pdf).
#### Do not post:
In instances where content consists of any form of non-consensual sexual touching, necrophilia, or forced stripping, including:
* Depictions (including real photos/videos except in a real-world art context), or
* Sharing, offering, asking for or threatening to share imagery, or
* Descriptions, unless shared by or in support of the victim/survivor, or
* Advocacy (including aspirational and conditional statements), or
* Statements of intent, or
* Calls for action, or
* Admitting participation, or
* Mocking victims of any of the above.
* We will also take down content shared by a third party that identifies victims or survivors of sexual assault when reported by the victim or survivor.
Content that attempts to exploit people by any of the following:
* Sextortion: Coercing money, favors or intimate imagery from people with threats to expose their intimate imagery or intimate information
* Sharing, threatening, stating an intent to share, offering or asking for non-consensual intimate imagery that fulfills all of the 3 following conditions:
* Imagery is non-commercial or produced in a private setting.
* Person in the imagery is (near) nude, engaged in sexual activity or in a sexual pose.
* Lack of consent to share the imagery is indicated by meeting any of the signals:
* Vengeful context (such as, caption, comments or page title).
* Independent sources (such as, law enforcement record) including entertainment media (such as, leak of images confirmed by media).
* A visible match between the person depicted in the image and the person who has reported the content to us.
* The person who reported the content to us shares the same name as the person depicted in the image.
* Secretly taken non-commercial imagery of a real person's commonly sexualized body parts (breasts, groin, buttocks, or thighs) or of a real person engaged in sexual activity. This imagery is commonly known as "creepshots" or "upskirts" and includes photos or videos that mock, sexualize or expose the person depicted in the imagery.
* Threatening or stating an intent to share private sexual conversations that meets the following criteria:
* Lack of consent is indicated by:
* Vengeful context and/or threatening context, or
* A visible match between the person depicted in the image and the person who has reported the content to us.
* The person who reported the content to us shares the same name as the person depicted in the image.
#### For the following content, we include a warning screen so that people are aware the content may be disturbing:
Narratives and statements that contain a description of non-consensual sexual touching (written or verbal) that includes details beyond mere naming or mentioning the act if:
* Shared by the victim, or
* Shared by a third party (other than the victim) in support of the victim or condemnation of the act or for general awareness to be determined by context/caption.
Content mocking the concept of non-consensual sexual touching
#### For the following Community Standards, we require additional information and/or context to enforce:
We may restrict visibility to people over the age of 18 and include a warning label on certain content depicting non-consensual sexual touching, when it is shared to raise awareness and without entertainment or sensational context, where the victim or survivor is not identifiable and where the content does not involve nudity.
In addition to our at-scale policy of removing content that threatens or advocates rape or other non-consensual sexual touching, we may also disable the posting account.
We may also enforce on content shared by a third party that identifies survivors of sexual assault when reported by an authorized representative or Trusted Partner.
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Bullying and Harassment
=======================
#### Policy Rationale
Bullying and harassment happen in many places and come in many different forms from making threats and releasing personally identifiable information to sending threatening messages and making unwanted malicious contact. We do not tolerate this kind of behavior because it prevents people from feeling safe and respected on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
We distinguish between public figures and private individuals because we want to allow discussion, which often includes critical commentary of people who are featured in the news or who have a large public audience. For public figures, we remove attacks that are severe as well as certain attacks where the public figure is directly tagged in the post or comment. We define public figures as state and national level government officials, political candidates for those offices, people with over one million fans or followers on social media and people who receive substantial news coverage.
For private individuals, our protection goes further: We remove content that's meant to degrade or shame, including, for example, claims about someone's sexual activity. We recognize that bullying and harassment can have more of an emotional impact on minors, which is why our policies provide heightened protection for anyone under the age 18, regardless of user status.
Context and intent matter, and we allow people to post and share if it is clear that something was shared in order to condemn or draw attention to bullying and harassment. In certain instances, we require self-reporting because it helps us understand that the person targeted feels bullied or harassed. In addition to reporting such behavior and content, we encourage people to use [tools available on our platforms](https://www.facebook.com/safety/tools) to help protect against it.
We also have a [Bullying Prevention Hub](https://www.facebook.com/safety/bullying), which is a resource for teens, parents, and educators seeking support for issues related to bullying and other conflicts. It offers step-by-step guidance, including information on how to start important conversations about bullying. Learn more about what we are doing to protect people from bullying and harassment [here](https://about.fb.com/news/2018/10/protecting-people-from-bullying/).
Note: This policy does not apply to individuals who are part of designated organizations under the [Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy](https://transparency.fb.com/policies/community-standards/dangerous-individuals-organizations/) or individuals who died prior to 1900.
**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](https://transparency.fb.com/policies/community-standards/privacy-violations-image-privacy-rights/)).
* 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](https://transparency.fb.com/policies/community-standards/child-sexual-exploitation-abuse-nudity/)).
* 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.
#### For the following Community Standards, we require additional information and/or context to enforce:
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
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Human Exploitation
==================
#### Policy Rationale
In an effort to disrupt and prevent harm, we remove content that facilitates or coordinates the exploitation of humans, including human trafficking. We define human trafficking as the business of depriving someone of liberty for profit. It is the exploitation of humans in order to force them to engagein commercial sex, labor or other activities against their will. It relies on deception, force and coercion, and degrades humans by depriving them of their freedom while economically or materially benefiting others.
Human trafficking is multi-faceted and global; it can affect anyone regardless of age, socioeconomic background, ethnicity, gender or location. It takes many forms, and any given trafficking situation can involve various stages of development. Due to the coercive nature of this abuse, victims cannot consent.
While we need to be careful not to conflate human trafficking and smuggling, they can be related and exhibit overlap. The United Nations defines human smuggling as the procurement or facilitation of illegal entry into a state across international borders. Without necessity for coercion or force, it may still result in the exploitation of vulnerable individuals who are trying to leave their country of origin, often in pursuit of a better life. Human smuggling is a crime against a state, relying on movement, and human trafficking is a crime against a person, relying on exploitation.
In addition to content condemning, raising awareness about, or news reporting on human trafficking or human smuggling issues, we allow content asking for or sharing information about personal safety and border crossing, seeking asylum or how to leave a country.
#### Do not post:
Content that recruits people for, facilitates or exploits people through any of the following forms of human trafficking:
* Sex trafficking (any commercial sexual activity with a minor or any commercial sexual activity with an adult involving force, fraud or coercion).
* Sales of children or illegal adoption.
* Orphanage trafficking and orphanage volun-tourism.
* Forced marriages.
* Labor exploitation (including bonded labor).
* Domestic servitude.
* Non-regenerative organ trafficking, not including organ removal, donation, or transplant in a non-exploitative organ donation context.
* Forced criminal activity (e.g. forced begging, forced drug trafficking).
* Recruitment of child soldiers.
Content where a third party actor recruits for, facilitates or benefits from (financially or otherwise) commercial sexual activity
Content that offers to provide or facilitate human smuggling
Content that asks for human smuggling services
We allow content that is otherwise covered by this policy when posted in condemnation, educational, awareness raising or news reporting contexts.
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Privacy Violations
==================
#### Policy Rationale
Privacy and the protection of personal information are fundamentally important values for Facebook. We work hard to safeguard your personal identity and information and we do not allow people to post certain types of personal or confidential information about yourself or of others.
We remove content that shares, offers or solicits personally identifiable information or other private information that could lead to physical or financial harm, including financial, residential, and medical information, as well as private information obtained from illegal sources. We also recognize that private information may become publicly available through news coverage, court filings, press releases, or other sources. When that happens, we may allow the information to be posted.
We also provide people ways to report imagery that they believe to be in violation of their privacy rights.
#### Do not post:
Content that shares or solicits any of the following private information, either on Facebook or through external links:
**Personally identifiable information about yourself or others**
* Personal identification numbers and identity documents: identifying individuals by name and government-issued numbers, including:
* National identification numbers (for example Social Security Numbers (SSN), Passport Numbers, National Insurance/Health Service Numbers, Personal Public Service Numbers (PPS), Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN)).