Account Integrity and Authentic Identity

Authenticity is the cornerstone of our community. We believe that authenticity helps create a community where people are accountable to each other, and to Facebook, in meaningful ways. We want to allow for the range of diverse ways that identity is expressed across our global community, while also preventing impersonation and identity misrepresentation. That is why we require people to create a Facebook account using the name they go by in everyday life. Our authenticity policies are intended to create a safe environment where people can trust and hold one another accountable.

In order to maintain a safe environment and empower free expression, we remove accounts that are harmful to the community, including those that compromise the security of other accounts and our services. We have built a combination of automated and manual systems to block and remove accounts that are used to persistently or egregiously abuse our Community Standards.

Because account level removal is a severe action, whenever possible, we aim to give our community a chance to learn our rules and follow our Community Standards. Penalties, including account disables, are designed to be proportionate to the severity of the violation and the risk of harm posed to the community. Continued violations, despite repeated warnings and restrictions, or violations that pose severe safety risks will lead to an account being disabled.

• Severely violate our Community Standards.
• Persistently violate our Community Standards.
• Are closely linked with a network of accounts or other entities that violate or evade our policies.
• Coordinate as part of a network of accounts or other entities in order to violate or evade our Community Standards.
• Represent Dangerous Individuals or Organizations.
• Create or use an account that demonstrates an intent to violate our Community Standards.
• Create or use an account by scripted or other inauthentic means.
• Create or repurpose an account or entity to evade a previous removal, including those assessed to have common ownership and content as previously removed accounts or entities.
• Create or use an account that deliberately misrepresents your identity in order to mislead or deceive others, or to evade enforcement or violate our other Community Standards. We consider a number of factors when assessing misleading identity misrepresentation, such as:
  • Repeated or significant changes to identity details, such as name or age
  • Misleading profile information, such as bio details and profile location
  • Using stock imagery or stolen photos
  • Other related account activity
• Impersonate others by:
  • Using their photos with the explicit aim to deceive others.
  • Creating an account assuming to be or speak for another person or entity.
  • Creating a Page assuming to be or speak for another person or entity for whom the user is not authorized to do so.
• Are under 13 years old.
• Are a convicted sex offender.
• Are prohibited from receiving our products, services or software under applicable laws.

• Accounts misrepresenting their identity (Facebook and Messenger only) by:
  • Creating an account using a name that is not the authentic name you go by in everyday life
    • Using an inherently violating name, containing slurs or any other violations of the Community Standards
  • Providing a false date of birth.
  • Creating a single account that represents or is used by more than one person.
  • Maintaining multiple accounts as a single user.
• Compromised accounts.
• Empty accounts with prolonged dormancy.