Amakuru atari yo

Ido n'ido ry'Itegeko
Uko abakoresha urubuga biyumva baruriko

Insiguro ya poritike

HINDURA URUTONDE RW'IVYAKOZWE
Igituma Amategeko Kanaka Ameze uko Ameze
Amakuru atari yo aratandukanye n'ubundi bwoko bw'imvugo buvugwa mu Mategeko Ngenderwako yacu kubera ko ata buryo buhari bwo gushira ahabona urutonde rukwiye rw'ibibujijwe. Nk'akarorero, ku bijanye n'ububisha bugaragara cane canke imvugo y'urwanko, amategeko yacu arerekana amakuru tubuza, kandi n'abantu batemera ayo mategeko barashobora kuyisunga. Ariko rero, ku bijanye n'amakuru atari yo, ntidushobora gutanga uwo muco. Isi iguma ihindagurika buri gihe, kandi ikintu cari ic'ukuri kirashobora guhinduka mu munota umwe kikaba ikitari ic'ukuri. Abantu bafise kandi amakuru atandukanye yerekeye isi ibakikuje, kandi bashobora kwemera ko ikintu ari ic'ukuri mu gihe atari ko biri. Poritike ibuza gusa "amakuru atari yo" ntiyoshobora gufasha abantu bakoresha amaseruvise yacu, kandi ntiyoshobora gushirwa mu ngiro, kuko tudafise uburyo butagira agahaze bwo kuronka amakuru.
Ahubwo, amategeko yacu arashira ahabona ubwoko butandukanye bw'amakuru atari yo kandi aragerageza gutanga imuco ku bijanye n'ukuntu dufata iyo mvugo igihe tuyibonye. Ku muce umwe umwe wose, ivyo twisunga birerekana ko tugerageza kwitaho icarimwe imico yacu ijanye no guserura ivyiyumviro, umutekano, agateka, ukuri hamwe n'ubuzimabanga.
Turakurako amakuru atari yo mu gihe ashobora ubwayo kugira uruhara mu guteza ingorane zo gusinzikariza abantu amagara umwanya uwo ari wo wose. Turakurako kandi amakuru ashobora ubwayo kugira uruhara mu guhungabanya uburyo ibikorwa vya poritike bitunganijwemwo. Kugira tumenye ibiranga amakuru atari yo muri iyi mice, dukorana n'abahinga bigenga bafise ubumenyi n'ubuhinga bwo gusuzuma ukuri kw'ibiri muri ayo makuru hamwe n'uko ayo makuru ubwayo ashobora kugira uruhara mu guteza ingorane zo kugirira nabi abantu umwanya uwo ari wo wose. Aho harimwo, nk'akarorero, gukorana n'amashirahamwe aharanira agateka ka zina muntu akorera mu gihugu kanaka kugira tumenye ukuri kw'amakuru y'ibihuha yerekeye indyane z'abanyagihugu.
Ku bijanye n'ayandi makuru yose atari yo, tugerageza kugabanya urugero rw'ikwiragira ryayo canke gushiraho ikibanza gishobora gutuma haba ibiganiro vyubaka. Turazi ko abantu bakunze gukoresha amakuru atari yo mu buryo ata co butwaye, nko mu kurenza urugero ku kintu (“Uyu mugwi ufise amateka mabi cane muri kahise k'inkino!”) canke mu gutwenza canke mu mvugo y'agahemo (“Umugabo wanje ahejeje kuronka agashimwe k'Umugabo w'Umwaka.”) Barashobora kandi gusangiza abandi ivyo baciyemwo biciye mu nkuru zirimwo ukubesha. Rimwe rimwe, abantu barashikiriza ivyiyumviro vyabo bwite abandi babona ko atari vyo canke bagasangiza amakuru bemera ko ari ay'ukuri ariko abandi bakabona ko adakwiye canke ko azimiza.
Kubera tuzi ko imvugo nk'iyo ikunda gukoreshwa, twihatira ku gutanga amakuru y'ingirakamaro ku banywanyi bacu igihe hari amakuru ashobora kuzimiza canke kuzazanira umuntu. Muri iyo ntumbero, hanze ya Reta Zunze Ubumwe za Amerika turakorana n'amashirahamwe atatwegukira hirya no hino kw'isi ajejwe gusuzuma ukuri kugira ngo asuzume yongere atange urugero rw'ukuri rw'amakuru akwiragizwa kenshi ku mbuga zacu (raba ngaha no ngaha kugira urabe uko tuvyitwaramwo muri Reta Zunze Ubumwe za Amerika). Duhereye muri Reta Zunze Ubumwe za Amerika, umugambi Uko Abanywanyi Babibona utuma abantu bavuga uko babona ivyashizwe kuri Facebook, Instagram na Threads bishobora kuba bizimiza canke bizazanira umuntu (raba ngaha). Turatanga kandi amasoko y'amakuru mu ntumbero yo kwongereza ubumenyi ku bitangwa n'ibimenyeshamakuru hamwe n'ibikoresha ubuhinga bwa none kugira ngo abantu bashobore kwihitiramwo ivyo basoma, ivyo bizera hamwe n'ivyo basangiza abandi. Dutegeka abantu gushira ahabona, bakoresheje igikoresho cacu co gushira ahabona gikoresha ubwengemuntu, igihe cose bashize ku rubuga amakuru batarihira bakoresheje ireresi yigana iy'ukuri canke amajwi yigana ay'ukuri vyakozwe canke vyahinduwe hakoreshejwe ubuhinga bwa none, kandi turashobora gufata ibihano igihe batubahirije ayo mabwirizwa. Turashobora kandi gushira akamenyetso ku bintu bimwe bimwe vyakozwe canke vyahinduwe hakoreshejwe ubuhinga bwa none bishobora gutuma habaho uburyo bukomeye bwo kuzimiza abantu ku bijanye n'ikintu gihambaye kuri bo.
Mu kurangiza, turabuza amakuru n'inyifato mu bindi bice bisanzwe bifitaniye isano n'ikwiragizwa ry'amakuru atari yo. Nk'akarorero, Amategeko Ngenderwako yacu arabuza amakonte y'ikinyoma, magendo, n'Inyifato ishingiye ku kinyoma gitunganije neza.
Kubera ibibera ku mbuga ngurukanabumenyi no hanze yazo bigenda birahinduka kandi bitera imbere, tuzobandanya duhindura ayo mategeko. Amakonte aguma asangiza abantu amakuru atari yo yavuzwe aha munsi arashobora, hambavu y'ibihano amakuru yayo afatirwa hisunzwe iri tegeko, kugabanirizwa ikwiragizwa, kwakwa ubushobozi bwo kumenyekanisha, canke gukurwa ku mbuga zacu. Ayandi makuru ajanye n'ibishika iyo Meta ikuyeko amakuru urashobora kuyasanga ngaha.
Amabwirizwa
Amakuru atari yo dukurako:
Dukurako ubwoko bw'amakuru atari yo bukurikira:
I. Gukomeretsa canke ububisha
Dukurako amakuru atari yo canke ibihuha ataho bifatiye, ivyo abahinga dukorana berekana neza ko bishobora kuvyura ubugizi bwa nabi canke abantu bagakomereka. Dusobanura amakuru atari yo nk'amakuru abandi bantu babifitiye uburenganzira badomyeko urutoki ko ari ay'ikinyoma. Dusobanura ibihuha bitagira urufatiro nk'amajambo abahinga dukorana bemeza ko bigoye canke bidashoboka kumenya iyo akomoka, ata nkomoko yayo izwi kandi yubashwe ihari, ataho ashingiye kugira ngo umuntu ashobore kuyabeshuza, canke arimwo ubwenge buke cane canke atagira urufatiro rwotuma abantu bayizera.
Turazi yuko kenshi na kenshi amakuru atari yo naho yogaragara umenga ntakabi kayo, iyo ashitse mu gihe kanaka, ashobora kugira ico aterereye mu bugizi bwa nabi bwo hanze y'urubuga, harimwo no gutera ubwoba abantu bishobora gutuma hagira abahasiga ubuzima, bagakomereka cane, canke ubundi bwoko bwo kumererwa nabi ku mubiri. Dukorana n'urunani mpuzamakungu rw'amashirahamwe ategamiye reta (NGOs), amashirahamwe adaharanira inyungu zayo, amashirahamwe aharanira agateka ka zina muntu, n'amashirahamwe mpuzamakungu yanonosoye cane gukora kuri ivyo bintu mu burere aherereyemwo.
Mu bihugu bishobora umwanya n'umwanya kubangamirwa n'ubwicanyi bubera mu kibano, turakorana n'abafatanyabikorwa baho ibara ritaragwa kugira ngo dutahure amakuru y'ibinyoma ashobora kugira uruhara mu kaga ko kugirirwa nabi ku mubiri mi kanya isase. Duca rero tugerageza gukora kugira ngo tumenye kandi dukure ku rubuga rwacu amakuru avugwamwo ivyo. Nk'akarorero, tubiganiyeko n'abahinga bo mu karere, turashobora gukuraho amakuru ataho ashingiye abesha mu kuvuga ko yerekana ibikorwa vy'ubugizi bwa nabi, abakorewe amabi canke abayakoze, ibirwanisho canke ibikoresho vya gisirikare.
II. Amakuru atari yo arimwo ububisha yerekeye amagara y'abantu
Turakorana n'amashirahamwe akomeye ajejwe amagara y'abantu kugira ngo dutore amakuru atari yo yerekeye amagra y'abantu ashobora kubangamira amagara y'abantu mu kanya gato hamwe n'umutekano wabo. Amakuru atari yo yerekeye amagara y'abantu dukurako arimwo aya akurikira:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. Imbere y'ibindi vyose dukurako amakuru atari yo yerekeye incanco igihe abarongozi bo mu gisata c'amagara y'abantu bagaragaje ko ayo makuru ari ikinyoma kandi ashobora gutuma abantu banka kwicandagisha. Harimwo:
    • Incanco zituma abana badakunda kuba hamwe n'abandi (akarorero: "Ukugwira kw'incanco nikwo gutuma abana benshi muri ino misi barwara indwara ya autisme ituba badakunda kuba kumwe n'abandi.")
    • Incanco zitera indwara gituma abana bapfa giturumbuka bita SIDS(akarorero: " mbega ntuzi ko incanco zitera indwara ya SIDS?"
    • Incanco zitera indwara zategerezwa gukinga, canke zituma uwuzitewe agira ingorane yo gushobora kwandura iyo ndwara (Akarorero: "Guterwa urucanco bitera ingorane yo gushobora kwandura iyo ndwara kuko umugera w'iyo ndwara usanzwe uri muri urwo rucanco nyene. Mwiyubare!")
    • Incanco canke ibizigize birica, birimwo ubumara, uburozi, bitera ivyago, canke birateye ubwoba (Akarorero: "Vy'ukuri, urashobora gucandagwa, nimba atakibazo ubona mu kwemera gushira uburozi mu mubiri wawe.")
    • Abasoda b'umubiri bakora neza gusumba inkomezi dukura mu ncanco (Akarorero: " Ni vyiza kwandura indwara gusumba kwemera guterwa urucanco rwayo.")
    • Ni bibi kwemera guterwa incanco nyinshi mu kiringo gito, no mu gihe ico kiringo kiba cemewe n'abaganga (Akarorero: "Ntuze wigere wemera gutererwa rimwe incanco zirenga rumwe, ni bibi cane-sindaba ivyo abaganga bakubwira!")
    • Incanco ntaco zifasha mu gukinga indwara zitwa ko zashiriweho gukingira. Naho biri ukwo, ku vyerekeye ikiza c'indwara ya COVID-19, akamangu, n'incanco za marariya, ntidukurako amakuru avuga ko izo ncanco zidafasha uwuziteje kutandura imigera y'izo ndwara. (Akarorero: Kurako-"Urucanco rw'indwara y'ubukangwe ntirutuma utandura iyo ndwara"; Kurako-"Incanco muri make ntaco zimaze ku vyerekeye kutandura indwara"; Kwemerera-"Incanco ntizituma utandura indwara ya COVID-19, niyo mpamvu usabwa kutegerana cane n'abandi bantu ndetse no kwambara agapfukamunwa igihe uri mu bandi bantu.")
    • Indwara y'agasama ntiyica (bisaba kwegeranya ayandi makuru hamwe n'/canke igihe bikorewemwo) (Akarorero: "Ntuhagarike umutima ku vyerekeye kwandura indwara y'agasama, ni indwara itica)
    • Vitamine C ikora igikorwa kimwe n'incanco mu gukinga indwara zisanzwe zifise incanco.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. Dukurako amakuru atari yo mu gihe hateye indwara zibangamira amagara y'abantu muri rusangi iyo abajejwe amagara y'abantu bemeje ko ayo makuru atari yo kandi ko ashobora gutuma haba ingorane zituma abantu basinzikarizwa amagara umwanya uwo ari wo wose, harimwo no gutuma abantu bandura canke bakwiragiza indwara mbi canke banka kwiteza urucanco rukingira iyo ndwara. Turatora ibiza vy'indwara dukoranye n'abajejwe amagara y'abantu kw'isi no mu burere duherereyemwo.
  • Kwamamaza canke kuvugira ibitangaza vy'ugukira indwara habanje gukorwa ibikorwa bibangamira umuntu. Muri ivyo harimwo ubuvuzi iyo bukoreshejwe nk'ukwo biba vyasabwe, mu bijanye n'amagara, bushobora gutuma umuntu akomereka cane canke agapfa, kandi ubwo buvuzi nta ruhusha bufise rwo gukoreshwa (akarorero: isabuni yo kumesura yitwa Javel, umuti bakaraba wica mikorobe, pomade yirabura, na soude caustique).
III. Kwivanga mu Matora canke muri Rusansuma
Mu kugerageza guteza imbere amatora canke rusansuma bizira inenge, turakurako amakuru atari yo ashobora gutuma haba ingorane mu buryo butuma abantu boroherwa mu kwitabira ivyo bikorwa. Muri ivyo harimwo ibi bikurikira:
  • Amakuru atari yo yerekeye amatariki, ibibanza kanaka, ibihe, n'uburyo bwo gutora, ingene abatora biyandikisha, canke kwitabira rusansuma.
  • Amakuru atari yo yerekeye abashobora gutora, ibisabwa kugira ngo umuntu atore, ko ijwi rizoharurwa canke ritazoharurwa, n'inkuru n'/canke ibikoresho bitegerezwa gutangwa kugira ngo abantu batore.
  • Amakuru atari yo yerekeye ko umukandida azokwitoza canke atazokwitoza.
  • Amakuru atari yo yerekeye uwushobora kwitabira rusansuma canke amakuru canke ibikoresho bisabwa gutangwa kugira ngo umuntu yitabire ico gikorwa.
  • Amakuru atari yo yerekeye uruhara rwa reta muri rusansuma, harimwo, aho bishoboka, ko amakuru ya rusansuma y'umuntu kanaka azosangizwa ayandi mashirahamwe ya reta (inyuma y'iyo rusansuma).
  • Amakuru y'ikinyoma avuga ko igisata ca Reta Zunze Ubumwe za Amerika kiraba ibijanye n'Abimukira hamwe n'Uruja n'Uruza ku Mipaka (ICE) kiri ahariko habera amatora.
  • Amakuru y'ikinyoma agaragara avuga ko abantu bazokwandura ikiza ca COVID-19 (canke iyindi ndwara yandukira) ni bitabira amatora.
  • Amakuru y'ikinyoma avuga ku bibanza vy'amatora muri Reta Zunze Ubumwe za Amerika bidakunda ko utoreramwo, nk'ukwo vyarabwe neza n'uwujejwe amatora.
Turafise ayandi mategeko agamije kugenga ibijanye no guhamagarira abantu gukora ububisha, gushigikira ukwitabira ibintu kutemewe n'amategeko, no guhamagarira abantu kwivanga mu matora, ari mu bindi bice vy'Amategeko Ngenderwako yacu.
Ku makuru akurikira, turashiramwo akamenyetso gatanga amakuru:
Isanamu canke ireresi yahinduwe
Isanamu canke ireresi rirashbora guhindurwa mu buryo bwinshi. Kenshi, izo mpinduka ntiziba zikomeye, nko gukata igice c'amakuru canke kuyagira magufi ku mvo zo kuyaryohora canke kwongeramwo umuziki. Ahandi naho, icahinduwe ntikiboneka ivyo navyo bigashobora gutuma abantu bihenda.
  • Amakuru Yakozwe canke Yahinduwe mu Buhinga bwa None Ashobora Kuzimiza Ku bijanye n'amakuru adahonyanga Amategeko Ngenderwako, turashobora kurenzako akamenyetso gatanga amakuru – canke tukamirira kure amakuru yatanzwe nk'ibimenyekanisha – igihe ayo makuru ari isanamu canke ireresi vyahinduwe bigasa nk' ivy'ukuri, canke amajwi wogira n'ay'ukuri, vyakozwe canke vyahinduwe mu buryo bwa none, kandi bigatuma habaho uburyo bukomeye bwo guhenda abantu ku bijanye n'ikintu gihambaye kuri bo.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hateful conductspeech, for instance, our policies specify the contentspeech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on providingslowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users with helpfulto authoritative information when there is potentially misleading or confusing content. As part of that effort, outside of the United States we partner with third-party fact checking organizations in many parts of the world to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here and here for our approach in the United States). Beginning in the United States, the Community Notes program lets people add more context to Facebook, Instagram and Threads posts that are potentially misleading or confusing (see here). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so. We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content enforced on in accordance with this policy, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Meta removes content can be found here.
Guidelines
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • False or unverified claims that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
  • False claims about current conditions at a U.S. voting location that would make it impossible to vote, as verified by an election authority.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
For the following content, we include an informative label:
Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead.
  • Content Digitally Created or Altered that May Mislead. For content that does not otherwise violate the Community Standards, we may place an informative label on the face of content – or reject content submitted as an advertisement – when the content is a photorealistic image or video, or realistic sounding audio, that was digitally created or altered and creates a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of public importance.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, outside of the United States we partner with third-party fact checking organizations in many parts of the world to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here and here for our approach in the United States). Beginning in the United States, the Community Notes program lets people add more context to Facebook, Instagram and Threads posts that are potentially misleading or confusing (see here). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so. We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content enforced on in accordance with this policy, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Meta removes content can be found here.
Guidelines
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • False or unverified claims that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
  • False claims about current conditions at a U.S. voting location that would make it impossible to vote, as verified by an election authority.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
For the following content, we include an informative label:
Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead.
  • Content Digitally Created or Altered that May Mislead. For content that does not otherwise violate the Community Standards, we may place an informative label on the face of content – or reject content submitted as an advertisement – when the content is a photorealistic image or video, or realistic sounding audio, that was digitally created or altered and creates a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of public importance.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, we partner with third-party fact checking organizations in many parts of the world to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see hereto learn more about how our fact-checking program works)and here for our approach in the United States). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so. We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content enforced on in accordance with this policy, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Meta removes content can be found here.
Guidelines
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • False or unverified claims that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
  • False claims about current conditions at a U.S. voting location that would make it impossible to vote, as verified by an election authority.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
For the following content, we include an informative label:
Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead.
  • Content Digitally Created or Altered that May Mislead. For content that does not otherwise violate the Community Standards, we may place an informative label on the face of content – or reject content submitted as an advertisement – when the content is a photorealistic image or video, or realistic sounding audio, that was digitally created or altered and creates a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of public importance.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict, and partnering with health organizations during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, we partner with third-party fact checking organizations to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here to learn more about how our fact-checking program works). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so. We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Pages, Groups, Profiles, and Instagram accountsAccounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content removedenforced on in accordance with this policy, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when FacebookMeta removes content can be found here.
Guidelines
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • False or unverified claims that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
  • False claims about current conditions at a U.S. voting location that would make it impossible to vote, as verified by an election authority.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
IV. Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead, particularly in the case of video content. We remove this content because it can go viral quickly and experts advise that false beliefs regarding manipulated media often cannot be corrected through further discourse.
We remove videos under this policy if specific criteria are met: (1) the video has been edited or synthesized, beyond adjustments for clarity or quality, in ways that are not apparent to an average person, and would likely mislead an average person to believe a subject of the video said words that they did not say; and (2) the video is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning, including deep learning techniques (e.g., a technical deepfake), that merges, combines, replaces, and/or superimposes content onto a video, creating a video that appears authentic.
For the following content, we include an informative label:
Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead.
  • Content Digitally Created or Altered that May Mislead. For content that does not otherwise violate the Community Standards, we may place an informative label on the face of content – or reject content submitted as an advertisement – when the content is a photorealistic image or video, or realistic sounding audio, that was digitally created or altered and creates a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of public importance.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes and certain highly deceptive manipulated media. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict, and partnering with health organizations during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, we partner with third-party fact checking organizations to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here to learn more about how our fact-checking program works). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so. We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Pages, Groups, Profiles, and Instagram accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content removed, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Facebook removes content can be found here.
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • False or unverified claims that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
  • False claims about current conditions at a U.S. voting location that would make it impossible to vote, as verified by an election authority.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
IV. Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead, particularly in the case of video content. We remove this content because it can go viral quickly and experts advise that false beliefs regarding manipulated media often cannot be corrected through further discourse.
We remove videos under this policy if specific criteria are met: (1) the video has been edited or synthesized, beyond adjustments for clarity or quality, in ways that are not apparent to an average person, and would likely mislead an average person to believe a subject of the video said words that they did not say; and (2) the video is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning, including deep learning techniques (e.g., a technical deepfake), that merges, combines, replaces, and/or superimposes content onto a video, creating a video that appears authentic.
For the following content, we include an informative label:
Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead.
  • Content Digitally Created or Altered that May Mislead. For content that does not otherwise violate the Community Standards, we may place an informative label on the face of content – or reject content submitted as an advertisement – when the content is a photorealistic image or video, or realistic sounding audio, that was digitally created or altered and creates a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of public importance.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes and certain highly deceptive manipulated media. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict, and partnering with health organizations during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, we partner with third-party fact checking organizations to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here to learn more about how our fact-checking program works). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so.We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Pages, Groups, Profiles, and Instagram accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content removed, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Facebook removes content can be found here.
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities. This currently includes certain false claims related to COVID-19 in countries still experiencing a publicly announced state of emergency regarding the virus. Click here for a complete set of rules regarding what misinformation we do not allow regarding COVID-19 and vaccines.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • False or unverified claims that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
  • False claims about current conditions at a U.S. voting location that would make it impossible to vote, as verified by an election authority.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
IV. Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead, particularly in the case of video content. We remove this content because it can go viral quickly and experts advise that false beliefs regarding manipulated media often cannot be corrected through further discourse.
We remove videos under this policy if specific criteria are met: (1) the video has been edited or synthesized, beyond adjustments for clarity or quality, in ways that are not apparent to an average person, and would likely mislead an average person to believe a subject of the video said words that they did not say; and (2) the video is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning, including deep learning techniques (e.g., a technical deepfake), that merges, combines, replaces, and/or superimposes content onto a video, creating a video that appears authentic.
For the following content, we include an informative label:
Content Digitally Created or Altered that May Mislead
For content that does not otherwise violate the Community Standards, we may place an informative label on the face of content – or reject content submitted as an advertisement – when the content is a photorealistic image or video, or realistic sounding audio, that was digitally created or altered and creates a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of public importance.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes and certain highly deceptive manipulated media. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict, and partnering with health organizations during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, we partner with third-party fact checking organizations to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here to learn more about how our fact-checking program works). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so.We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Pages, Groups, Profiles, and Instagram accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content removed, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Facebook removes content can be found here.
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities. This currently includes certain false claims related to COVID-19 in countries still experiencing a publicly announced state of emergency regarding the virus. Click here for a complete set of rules regarding what misinformation we do not allow regarding COVID-19 and vaccines.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • False or unverified claims that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
  • False claims about current conditions at a U.S. voting location that would make it impossible to vote, as verified by an election authority.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
IV. Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead, particularly in the case of video content. We remove this content because it can go viral quickly and experts advise that false beliefs regarding manipulated media often cannot be corrected through further discourse.
We remove videos under this policy if specific criteria are met: (1) the video has been edited or synthesized, beyond adjustments for clarity or quality, in ways that are not apparent to an average person, and would likely mislead an average person to believe a subject of the video said words that they did not say; and (2) the video is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning, including deep learning techniques (e.g., a technical deepfake), that merges, combines, replaces, and/or superimposes content onto a video, creating a video that appears authentic.
For the following content, we include an informative label:
Content Digitally Created or Altered that May Mislead
For content that does not otherwise violate the Community Standards, we may place an informative label on the face of content – or reject content submitted as an advertisement – when the content is a photorealistic image or video, or realistic sounding audio, that was digitally created or altered and creates a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of public importance.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes and certain highly deceptive manipulated media. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict, and partnering with health organizations during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, we partner with third-party fact checking organizations to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here to learn more about how our fact-checking program works). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Pages, Groups, Profiles, and Instagram accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content removed, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Facebook removes content can be found here.
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities. This currently includes certain false claims related to COVID-19 in countries still experiencing a publicly announced state of emergency regarding the virus. Click here for a complete set of rules regarding what misinformation we do not allow regarding COVID-19 and vaccines.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • False or unverified claims that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
  • False claims about current conditions at a U.S. voting location that would make it impossible to vote, as verified by an election authority.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
IV. Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead, particularly in the case of video content. We remove this content because it can go viral quickly and experts advise that false beliefs regarding manipulated media often cannot be corrected through further discourse.
We remove videos under this policy if specific criteria are met: (1) the video has been edited or synthesized, beyond adjustments for clarity or quality, in ways that are not apparent to an average person, and would likely mislead an average person to believe a subject of the video said words that they did not say; and (2) the video is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning, including deep learning techniques (e.g., a technical deepfake), that merges, combines, replaces, and/or superimposes content onto a video, creating a video that appears authentic.
For the following content, we include an informative label:
Content Digitally Created or Altered that May Mislead
For content that does not otherwise violate the Community Standards, we may place an informative label on the face of content – or reject content submitted as an advertisement – when the content is a photorealistic image or video, or realistic sounding audio, that was digitally created or altered and creates a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of public importance.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, we partner with third-party fact checking organizations to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here to learn more about how our fact-checking program works). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so. We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content enforced on in accordance with this policy, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Meta removes content can be found here.
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities. This currently includes certain false claims related to COVID-19 in countries still experiencing a publicly announced state of emergency regarding the virus. Click here for a complete set of rules regarding what misinformation we do not allow regarding COVID-19 and vaccines.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • Content falsely claimingFalse or unverified claimsthat the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
  • False claims about current conditions at a U.S. voting location that would make it impossible to vote, as verified by an election authority.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
IV. Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead, particularly in the case of video content. We remove this content because it can go viral quickly and experts advise that false beliefs regarding manipulated media often cannot be corrected through further discourse.
We remove videos under this policy if specific criteria are met: (1) the video has been edited or synthesized, beyond adjustments for clarity or quality, in ways that are not apparent to an average person, and would likely mislead an average person to believe a subject of the video said words that they did not say; and (2) the video is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning, including deep learning techniques (e.g., a technical deepfake), that merges, combines, replaces, and/or superimposes content onto a video, creating a video that appears authentic.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, we partner with third-party fact checking organizations to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here to learn more about how our fact-checking program works). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so. We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content enforced on in accordance with this policy, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Meta removes content can be found here.
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
In countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we work proactively with local partners to understand which false claims may directly contribute to a risk of imminent physical harm. We then work to identify and remove content making those claims on our platform. For example, in consultation with local experts, we may remove out-of-context media falsely claiming to depict acts of violence, victims or perpetrators of violence, weapons, or military hardware.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities. This currently includes certain false claims related to COVID-19 in countries still experiencing a publicly announced state of emergency regarding the virus. Click here for a complete set of rules regarding what misinformation we do not allow regarding COVID-19 and vaccines.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • Content falsely claiming that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
IV. Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead, particularly in the case of video content. We remove this content because it can go viral quickly and experts advise that false beliefs regarding manipulated media often cannot be corrected through further discourse.
We remove videos under this policy if specific criteria are met: (1) the video has been edited or synthesized, beyond adjustments for clarity or quality, in ways that are not apparent to an average person, and would likely mislead an average person to believe a subject of the video said words that they did not say; and (2) the video is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning, including deep learning techniques (e.g., a technical deepfake), that merges, combines, replaces, and/or superimposes content onto a video, creating a video that appears authentic.
To provide transparency that in countries experiencing a heightened risk of societal violence, we identify and remove content making harmful misinformation claims.
Policy Rationale
Misinformation is different from other types of speech addressed in our Community Standards because there is no way to articulate a comprehensive list of what is prohibited. With graphic violence or hate speech, for instance, our policies specify the speech we prohibit, and even persons who disagree with those policies can follow them. With misinformation, however, we cannot provide such a line. The world is changing constantly, and what is true one minute may not be true the next minute. People also have different levels of information about the world around them, and may believe something is true when it is not. A policy that simply prohibits “misinformation” would not provide useful notice to the people who use our services and would be unenforceable, as we don’t have perfect access to information.
Instead, our policies articulate different categories of misinformation and try to provide clear guidance about how we treat that speech when we see it. For each category, our approach reflects our attempt to balance our values of expression, safety, dignity, authenticity, and privacy.
We remove misinformation where it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm. We also remove content that is likely to directly contribute to interference with the functioning of political processes. In determining what constitutes misinformation in these categories, we partner with independent experts who possess knowledge and expertise to assess the truth of the content and whether it is likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent harm. This includes, for instance, partnering with human rights organizations with a presence on the ground in a country to determine the truth of a rumor about civil conflict.
For all other misinformation, we focus on reducing its prevalence or creating an environment that fosters a productive dialogue. We know that people often use misinformation in harmless ways, such as to exaggerate a point (“This team has the worst record in the history of the sport!”) or in humor or satire (“My husband just won Husband of the Year.”) They also may share their experience through stories that contain inaccuracies. In some cases, people share deeply-held personal opinions that others consider false or share information that they believe to be true but others consider incomplete or misleading.
Recognizing how common such speech is, we focus on slowing the spread of hoaxes and viral misinformation, and directing users to authoritative information. As part of that effort, we partner with third-party fact checking organizations to review and rate the accuracy of the most viral content on our platforms (see here to learn more about how our fact-checking program works). We also provide resources to increase media and digital literacy so people can decide what to read, trust, and share themselves. We require people to disclose, using our AI-disclosure tool, whenever they post organic content with photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so. We may also add a label to certain digitally created or altered content that creates a particularly high risk of misleading people on a matter of public importance.
Finally, we prohibit content and behavior in other areas that often overlap with the spread of misinformation. For example, our Community Standards prohibit fake accounts, fraud, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
As online and offline environments change and evolve, we will continue to evolve these policies. Accounts that repeatedly share the misinformation listed below may, in addition to having their content enforced on in accordance with this policy, receive decreased distribution, limitations on their ability to advertise, or be removed from our platforms. Additional information on what happens when Meta removes content can be found here.
Misinformation we remove:
We remove the following types of misinformation:
I. Physical Harm or Violence
We remove misinformation or unverifiable rumors that expert partners have determined are likely to directly contribute to a risk of imminent violence or physical harm to people. We define misinformation as content with a claim that is determined to be false by an authoritative third party. We define an unverifiable rumor as a claim whose source expert partners confirm is extremely hard or impossible to trace, for which authoritative sources are absent, where there is not enough specificity for the claim to be debunked, or where the claim is too incredulous or too irrational to be believed.
We know that sometimes misinformation that might appear benign could, in a specific context, contribute to a risk of offline harm, including threats of violence that could contribute to a heightened risk of death, serious injury, or other physical harm. We work with a global network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not-for-profit organizations, humanitarian organizations, and international organizations that have expertise in these local dynamics.
II. Harmful Health Misinformation
We consult with leading health organizations to identify health misinformation likely to directly contribute to imminent harm to public health and safety. The harmful health misinformation that we remove includes the following:
  • Misinformation about vaccines. We remove misinformation primarily about vaccines when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to imminent vaccine refusals. They include:
    • Vaccines cause autism (Ex: “Increased vaccinations are why so many kids have autism these days.”)
    • Vaccines cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Ex: “Don’t you know vaccines cause SIDS?”
    • Vaccines cause the disease against which they are meant to protect, or cause the person receiving the vaccine to be more likely to get the disease (Ex: “Taking a vaccine actually makes you more likely to get the disease since there’s a strain of the disease inside. Beware!”)
    • Vaccines or their ingredients are deadly, toxic, poisonous, harmful, or dangerous (Ex: “Sure, you can take vaccines, if you don’t mind putting poison in your body.”)
    • Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity (Ex: “It’s safest to just get the disease rather than the vaccine.”)
    • It is dangerous to get several vaccines in a short period of time, even if that timing is medically recommended (Ex: “Never take more than one vaccine at the same time, that is dangerous - I don’t care what your doctor tells you!”)
    • Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease against which they purport to protect. However, for the COVID-19, flu, and malaria vaccines, we do not remove claims that those vaccines are not effective in preventing someone from contracting those viruses. (Ex’s: Remove – “The polio vaccine doesn’t do anything to stop you from getting the disease”; Remove – “Vaccines actually don’t do anything to stop you from getting diseases”; Allow – “The vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting COVID-19, that’s why you still need to socially distance and wear a mask when you’re around others.”)
    • Acquiring measles cannot cause death (requires additional information and/or context) (Ex: “Don’t worry about whether you get measles, it can’t be fatal.”)
    • Vitamin C is as effective as vaccines in preventing diseases for which vaccines exist.
  • Misinformation about health during public health emergencies. We remove misinformation during public health emergencies when public health authorities conclude that the information is false and likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, including by contributing to the risk of individuals getting or spreading a harmful disease or refusing an associated vaccine. We identify public health emergencies in partnership with global and local health authorities. This currently includes certain false claims related to COVID-19 in countries still experiencing a publicly announced state of emergency regarding the virus.This currently includes false claims related to COVID-19 that are verified by expert health authorities, about the existence or severity of the virus, how to cure or prevent it, how the virus is transmitted or who is immune, and false claims which discourage good health practices related to COVID-19 (such as getting tested, social distancing, wearing a face mask, and getting a vaccine for COVID-19).Click here for a complete set of rules regarding what misinformation we do not allow regarding COVID-19 and vaccines.
  • Promoting or advocating for harmful miracle cures for health issues. These include treatments where the recommended application, in a health context, is likely to directly contribute to the risk of serious injury or death, and the treatment has no legitimate health use (ex: bleach, disinfectant, black salve, caustic soda).
III. Voter or Census Interference
In an effort to promote election and census integrity, we remove misinformation that is likely to directly contribute to a risk of interference with people’s ability to participate in those processes. This includes the following:
  • Misinformation about the dates, locations, times, and methods for voting, voter registration, or census participation.
  • Misinformation about who can vote, qualifications for voting, whether a vote will be counted, and what information or materials must be provided in order to vote.
  • Misinformation about whether a candidate is running or not.
  • Misinformation about who can participate in the census and what information or materials must be provided in order to participate.
  • Misinformation about government involvement in the census, including, where applicable, that an individual's census information will be shared with another (non-census) government agency.
  • Content falsely claiming that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is at a voting location.
  • Explicit false claims that people will be infected by COVID-19 (or another communicable disease) if they participate in the voting process.
We have additional policies intended to cover calls for violence, the promotion of illegal participation, and calls for coordinated interference in elections, which are represented in other sections of our Community Standards.
IV. Manipulated Media
Media can be edited in a variety of ways. In many cases, these changes are benign, such as content being cropped or shortened for artistic reasons or music being added. In other cases, the manipulation is not apparent and could mislead, particularly in the case of video content. We remove this content because it can go viral quickly and experts advise that false beliefs regarding manipulated media often cannot be corrected through further discourse.
We remove videos under this policy if specific criteria are met: (1) the video has been edited or synthesized, beyond adjustments for clarity or quality, in ways that are not apparent to an average person, and would likely mislead an average person to believe a subject of the video said words that they did not say; and (2) the video is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning, including deep learning techniques (e.g., a technical deepfake), that merges, combines, replaces, and/or superimposes content onto a video, creating a video that appears authentic.
Uko abakoresha urubuga biyumva baruriko
Raba uburorero bumwebumwe bw'ingene iyububahirizwa ry'amategeko rimeze ku bantu bari kuri Facebook, nk'ibi bikurikira: ingene kuvuga ko hari ikintu kidakwiye kuba kuri Facebook bimeze, kubwirwa yuko wahonyanze Amategeko Ngenderwako yacu hamwe no kubona ikiyo kikugabisha ku makuru kanaka ari ku rubuga.
Menya neza: Tuguma na ntaryo dutunganya neza ibikorwa vyacu, ni co gituma ivyo uriko urabona ngaha bishobora kuba vyarataye igihe ugereranije n'ivyo dukoresha muri iki gihe.
UKO ABAKORESHA URUBUGA BIYUMVA BARURIKO
Kudoma urutoke ku bitagenda neza
UKO UWUKORESHA URUBUGA YIYUMVA ARURIKO
Guhanahana amakuru inyuma yo kuvuga ko hari ikitagenda neza
UKO UWUKORESHA URUBUGA YIYUMVA ARURIKO
Uko gukura amakuru ku rubuga bimeze
UKO UWUKORESHA URUBUGA YIYUMVA ARURIKO
Ubutumwa bugabisha bwo ku kiyo
Gutuma abantu bubahiriza amategeko
Dufise amategeko ameze kumwe ahantu hose kw'isi, ku bantu bose bakoresha Facebook.
Imigwi y'abagenzuzi
Umugwi wo kw'isi yose wacu w'abagenzuzi ugizwe n'abantu barenga 15000 bakora imisi yose kugira ngo bakingire abantu bari kuri Facebook.
Ukwiyemeza kw'abafatanyabikorwa
Abahinga, abarimu mu ma kaminuza, amashirahamwe yigenga n'abashiraho amategeko badakorera ishirahamwe ryacu, barafasha mu gutanga amakuru yisungwa mu Mategeko Ngenderwako ya Facebook.
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