Facebook Introduces Policies To Protect Public Figures, Accidental Celebrities
Image via BigTunaOnline / Shutterstock.com
Facebook is introducing new amendments to its harassment and bullying policies to better protect individuals and public figures. These changes come as the country commemorated National Bullying Prevention and Awareness Day on October 13.
The social media platform said it came up with the updates after consulting global stakeholders, such as female politicians, LGBTQ+ representatives, and other content creators.
Starting now, the site will remove mass harassment efforts, even if there isn’t risk of the person being harmed in real life. According to CNET, this rule change will extend to all content, including posts, comments, or even direct messages. Groups or Pages targeted at bullying individuals will also be deleted.
“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,” assured Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Global Head of Security.
The new rules are also designed to bring greater protection to public figures or “accidental celebrities,” such as journalists or activists.
Facebook is planning to ramp up its security measures surrounding such individuals, and will begin deleting any “degrading or sexualized attacks.” Public figures can request for disparaging comments to be removed from their profiles or pages as well.
Earlier this year, Instagram had also introduced a feature to enable users to block abusive messages from their inboxes. The tool helps filter offensive words, phrases, and emojis, so users will never have to read them.
Is this a step in the right direction to combat online bullying? While it may not censor all hate messages, it may certainly bring some relief to public figures who face a barrage of harassment daily.
[via CNET, cover image via BigTunaOnline / Shutterstock.com]
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