Jessica Guynn|USA TODAY
Call it Facebook jail reform.
Facebook says it will now warn users when they run afoul of its rules instead of taking away their posting privileges and tossing them in Facebook jail.
For most violations, the first strike will result in a warning. If Facebook removes additional posts, users will lose access to some features. Facebook jail sentences will typically begin after the sixth strike.
The old rules will still apply to more serious violations, such asterrorism or child exploitation, and offenders will face immediate restrictions, said Monika Bickert, vice president of content policy at Facebook parent company Meta Platforms.
What is Facebook jail? Why is it changing?
The shift to a more lenient approach is the result of feedback from around the world as well asthe company’s civil rights auditors and its Oversight Board, Bickert said.
“The one consistent refrain that we heard from those external groups was that they thought the penalty system needed to be fairer, more proportionate,” Bickert told USA TODAY in an interview.
Facebook polices billions of posts, photos, videos and comments each day. And, for years, itsmoderation systems have been slammed for missing context and bungling decisions.
Frustrated users complain they've been unfairlydeprivedof access to their accounts,communities and, in some cases, their businesses for days or weeks at a time.
“We started looking at the data and what became clear to us was that most people who violate our policies, they’re well-intentioned people who either made mistakes, maybe they posted something close to the line and we actually made the wrong decision," she said. "There’s a lot of room for education and explaining what our policies are.”
Nearly 8 in 10 users with a low number of strikes did not violate Facebook’s rules in the following 60 days, according to Facebook's research.
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What gets you banned from Facebook?
Facebook relies on a set of rules to guide decisions about what people are allowed to say on the platform.These standards are enforced by human moderators, but mostly Facebook relieson automated tools. Both are prone to mistakes.
Conservatives complain that Facebook targets right-wing voices and perspectives, unfairly throwing them in the social media equivalent of solitary confinement.
The civil rights community says Facebook does too little to protect communities targeted by hate speech and threats while stifling the speech of people in those communities.
“This change to our penalty system in part is driven by our understanding that we won’t always get it right,” Bickert said.
What happens when you are in Facebook jail?
When you are in Facebook jail, you cannot post or comment for a day or longer.
Facebook says it does not comment on the inner workings of its penalty system to keep people from gaming it. But it plans to give people more information about why their posts are taken down.
“It’s in recognition of all of the complexity that goes into a content moderation system that we want to focus, for the majority of people who violate who we know are not likely to be persistent violators, on education and improving the understanding of where the policy lines are,” Bickert said.
How long do you go into Facebook jail?
Under the old system, when someone made a comment or post that ran afoul of Facebook’s Community Standards, the company might restrict their ability to create content even if they did not have a record of violations. Now Facebook jail sentences will be meted out later.
On the seventh strike, Facebook users will be restricted from posting and commenting for one day. On the eighth, it’s a three-day restriction. After nine strikes, it’s a week in Facebook jail. And after 10 or more strikes, users could get a 30-day sentence.
If a user continues to post content that breaks Facebook’s rules, the company will disable the account.
Bickert says “persistent violators” may have their accounts disabled even sooner under the new system because they will rack up strikes quicker.
How to avoid Facebook jail
Facebook will notify userswhen it removes content or restricts their accounts.
They will be able to see ahistory of violations in theirAccount Status.
If theythink Facebook got it wrong, they can notify Facebook on the app. If content moderators agree, they will remove the strike.
