Itโs not just inciting violence, threats and hate speech that will getย Facebookย to remove posts by you or your least favorite troll. Endangering someone financially, not just physically, or tricking them to earn a profit are now also strictly prohibited.
Facebook todayย spelled out its policyย with more clarity in hopes of establishing a transparent set of rules it can point to when it enforces its policy in the future. That comes after cloudy rules led to waffling decisions and backlash as it dealt with andย finally removed four Pagesย associated with Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
The company started by repeatedly stressing that it is not a government โ likely to indicate it does not have to abide by the same First Amendment rules.
โWe do not, for example, allow content that could physically or financially endanger people, that intimidates people through hatefulย language, or that aims to profit by tricking people using Facebook,โ its VP of policy Richard Allen published today.
Web searches show this is the first time Facebook has used that language regarding financial attacks. Weโve reached out for comment about exactly how new Facebook considers this policy.
This is important because it means Facebookโs policy encompasses threats of ruining someoneโs credit, calling for people to burglarize their homes or blocking them from employment. While not physical threats, these can do real-world damage to victims.
The position against trickery for profit gives Facebook a wide berth to fight against spammers, scammers and shady businesses making false claims about products. The question will be how Facebook enforces this rule. Some would say most advertisements are designed to trick people in order for a business to earn a profit. Facebook is more likely to shut down obvious grits where businesses make impossible assertions about how their products can help people, rather than just exaggerations about their quality or value.
Source: techCrunch
