Bullying and harassment

Policy details

User experiences

Data

Policy details

CHANGE LOG

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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 behaviour 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 recognise 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 of 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 behaviour and content, we encourage people to use tools available on our platforms to help protect against it.

We also have a Bullying Prevention Hub, which is a resource for teenagers, 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.

Note: This policy does not apply to individuals who are part of designated organisations under the Dangerous Organisations and Individuals Policy 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 sexualised commentary.

Derogatory sexualised 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 towards individuals who are depicted in the process of, or straight 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 favour of contracting or developing a medical condition.

Celebration or mocking of death or medical condition.

Claims about sexually transmitted infections.

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 or 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 sexualising another adult (sexualisation 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:

Dehumanising 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 rubbish, filth, faeces.

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 fight-sport contexts).

Tier 3: Additional protections for private minors, private adults and minor involuntary public figures:

In addition to all of 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 or 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 of the protections listed above, private minors are also protected from:

Allegations about criminal or illegal behaviour.

Videos of physical bullying against minors, shared in any context.

Derogatory terms related to female gendered cursing.

Bullying and harassment through Pages, groups, events and messages

The protections of Tiers 1 to 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 authorised representative of the target.

Post content described above that would otherwise require the target to report the content or where the content 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 authorised representative of the target (alive or deceased) that the content is unwanted.

Post content calling for or stating an intent to engage in behaviour that would qualify as bullying and harassment under our policies. We will remove this content when we have confirmation from the target or an authorised representative of the target that the content is unwanted.

Post content sexualising a public figure. We will remove this content when we have confirmation from the target or an authorised 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 authorised 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 recognisable 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 behaviour otherwise deemed to be objectionable in local context

User experiences

See some examples of what enforcement looks like for people on Facebook, such as: what it looks like to report something that you don't think should be on Facebook, to be told that 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

View the latest Community Standards Enforcement Report

Enforcement

We have the same policies around the world, for everyone on Facebook.

Review teams

Our global team of over 15,000 reviewers work every day to keep people on Facebook safe.

Stakeholder engagement

Outside experts, academics, NGOs and policymakers help inform the Facebook Community Standards.

Get help with bullying and harassment

Learn what you can do if you see something on Facebook that goes against our Community Standards.

Visit our Help Centre