Spreading misinformation will now be having long-lasting consequences, thanks to Facebook’s new policy change. It was recently announced by the Social Media giant that it will now have complete say over banning any pages and groups, just because they are affiliated with those that have gone against the company’s community standards, even if the existing pages/groups haven’t violated any such standards. This mainly applies to publishers who run a number of pages and groups to always have their content backed up in some fashion and this is exactly why Facebook has decided to remove their other pages too.
Initially, the policy was that the new page or group could be taken down for affiliation reasons only if it was created after the original’s ban. However, the new policy has proposed to take down the linked pages/groups, no matter when they were created. Although the policy change is mainly concerned with preventing false information from being circulated, it will also be applied to the company’s rules on harassment and bullying, hate speech, spam material, copyright infringing content, in addition to various other unethical acts.
Not all inaccurate stuff counts as violation to Facebook’s community standards. Therefore, the company had referred users to visit its extensive community standards page in order to clarify what type of content violates the rules and what type is good to remain on the platform.
Although the recent change has tightened the policies and will cause publishers to think twice before posting content, it was much-needed as Facebook, being one of the largest social media networks also has the responsibility to regulate the content that flows through it. In the last few years, there have been several instances where Facebook was used to spread propaganda and fake news to cause unrest. However, there’s hope now as Facebook has certainly taken a step in the right direction with this new enforcement policy. It remains yet to be seen whether this approach succeeds.
Initially, the policy was that the new page or group could be taken down for affiliation reasons only if it was created after the original’s ban. However, the new policy has proposed to take down the linked pages/groups, no matter when they were created. Although the policy change is mainly concerned with preventing false information from being circulated, it will also be applied to the company’s rules on harassment and bullying, hate speech, spam material, copyright infringing content, in addition to various other unethical acts.
Not all inaccurate stuff counts as violation to Facebook’s community standards. Therefore, the company had referred users to visit its extensive community standards page in order to clarify what type of content violates the rules and what type is good to remain on the platform.
Related: Senior Citizens Are Most Likely to Share Fake News on Social MediaHowever, Facebook intends to give its publishers a chance to correct themselves before it’s too late. The page owners and group admins will now be able to get a breakdown of posts and other types of content that have have gone against the standards set by community. This went into effect after Facebook updated its administrative portal to add a new feature, or a tab which goes by the name, “Page Quality”.
Although the recent change has tightened the policies and will cause publishers to think twice before posting content, it was much-needed as Facebook, being one of the largest social media networks also has the responsibility to regulate the content that flows through it. In the last few years, there have been several instances where Facebook was used to spread propaganda and fake news to cause unrest. However, there’s hope now as Facebook has certainly taken a step in the right direction with this new enforcement policy. It remains yet to be seen whether this approach succeeds.
