Facebook Updates Harassment Policy to Protect Public Figures, Journalists, and Activists

Contact Your Elected Officials
The Epoch Times Header

Facebook announced updates to its harassment policy on Wednesday to protect public figures, journalists, and activists from harmful content and attacks, according to a new statement from the social media giant.

The changes follow the recent congressional testimony of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who shared concerns about the company’s practices.

Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook’s civic misinformation team, on Oct. 3 revealed that she was the individual who provided the internal documents for a Sept. 14 exposé by The Wall Street Journal that claims Instagram has a “toxic” impact on the self-esteem of young girls.

She has accused Facebook of repeatedly putting profit before doing “what was good for the public,” including clamping down on hate speech.

Now Facebook has announced its new policy to better protect users concerned about bullying and harassment on the platform.

“It’s important that everyone on our apps feels safe to engage and connect with their communities. We do not allow bullying and harassment on our platform, but when it does happen, we act,” Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis said in the statement.

“We remove content that violates our policies and disable the accounts of people who repeatedly break our rules,” Davis added.

The announcement was coordinated with National Bullying and Awareness Day in the United States. The actions seek to offer additional protections to anyone who feels threatened on the platform, especially through the large-scale harassment sometimes experienced by leading influencers.

The statement focused on two areas of change. First, Facebook’s new policy will remove “coordinated efforts of mass harassment.” This change could include comments, direct messages, and other targeted attempts to harass users in a coordinated manner.

The second change includes more protections for public figures. Defined to include celebrities, creators, journalists, and politicians, the new policy will remove:

  • Severe sexualizing content
  • Profiles, pages, groups, or events dedicated to sexualizing the public figure
  • Derogatory, sexualized photoshopped images and drawings
  • Attacks through negative physical descriptions that are tagged to, mention, or posted on the public figure’s account
  • Degrading content depicting individuals in the process of bodily functions

The protections will also specifically protect influencers in the “underrepresented community, including women, people of color, or the LGBTQ community.”

In addition to Facebook, the policy changes will include interactions on the Facebook-owned app Instagram.

Not everyone is in favor of the updated policies. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) posted a controversial YouTube video (see above) Monday calling the Facebook whistleblower a “Trojan horse.”

He said in the video’s description that “contrary to the media’s casual assertions that Republicans and Democrats see eye to eye on this issue, let me assure you we do not.”

By Christopher Burroughs

Read Original Article on TheEpochTimes.com

The Epoch Times
The Epoch Timeshttps://www.theepochtimes.com/
Tired of biased news? The Epoch Times is truthful, factual news that other media outlets don't report. No spin. No agenda. Just honest journalism like it used to be.

Figures flip the field

Sports programs with strong donor bases and NIL collectives are flipping recruits and transfers at rapid speed, like traders on Wall Street.

Roger Stone Says Treason Indictments Are Coming

Biden, Brennan, Comey, Rice, Rosenstein, Mueller, Weissman, McCabe, Samantha Powers and others I think are looking at serious criminal indictments.”

‘He Didn’t Care That I Was a Malcom X Scholar’

The rise of delusional social justice ideology is the result of impressionable youth being influenced by overpaid professors and administrators.

5 Family-friendly History Movies

Family-friendly history movies you can enjoy with your kids—perfect for homeschool projects or a fun way to learn together as a family.

The hard truth of pretual social change

History shows us a progression of dominant social structures, each one born from innovation and is eventually replaced by another.

FTC Takes Action Against Robot Toy Maker for Allegedly Sending Children’s Info to China

FTC acted against a robot toy maker selling on Amazon, alleging it let a China-based third party collect U.S. children’s data.

DEA Warns Families About Drug Dealers Preying on Social Media

The DEA Omaha Division is asking parents to talk with children about threats posed by drug dealers on social media and the negative impact of drug use.

AI-backed Deepfake Impersonations Are Getting Harder to Detect, FBI Warns

Increasingly hard-to-detect deepfake content created with artificial intelligence (AI) is being exploited by criminals to impersonate trusted individuals.

Oklahoma’s ‘America First’ Teacher Screening Test Spotlights Partisanship Debate

Oklahoma’s recent “America First” initiative for K–12 education has renewed debate on partisanship in public education.

Trump Runs out of Patience With China, Sharpens His Words

President Donald Trump’s recent remarks targeting China and its allies mark a noticeable shift in tone.

Trump Signs Order Renaming Department of Defense as Department of War

President Donald Trump on Sept. 5 signed an executive order renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of War.

Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Countries That Unlawfully Detain Americans

President Trump signed an EO on targeting the unlawful detention of American citizens around the world and to facilitate the release of hostages.

Trump Sends Warning to Venezuela After US Military Strikes Boat Allegedly Carrying Drugs

President Trump sent a warning to Venezuela after the U.S. military struck what the administration says was a boat carrying drugs in the Caribbean.
spot_img

Related Articles

Popular Categories

MAGA Business Central