Leaked documents reveal Facebook policies on sexual & violent content

Facebook’s guidelines regarding what sort of content its users can post on the site have been revealed for the first time.

An investigation carried out by The Guardian examined more than 100 internal training manuals, spreadsheets and flowcharts to gain a better insight into how the social networking giant polices its users on issues such as violence, hate speech, terrorism, racism and self-harm.

A source told The Guardian: “Facebook cannot keep control of its content. It has grown too big, too quickly.”

There are concerns about the inconsistency of some policies, in particular, those surrounding the uploading of sexual content.

The documents obtained by the newspaper pointed out several shocking truths about Facebook’s policing strategy including the revelation that videos of abortions are allowed – as long as there is no nudity.

However, the leaked documents also showed the company are taking measures to improve policies, even if it they are only implemented following public pressure.

New guidelines were put in place following last year’s controversy over a picture taken during the Vietnam war that was removed from the site because the girl in the picture was naked.

According to The Guardian, Facebook now allow for “newsworthy exceptions” under its “terror of war” guidelines.

The investigation could not have come at a worse time for the social networking site as it faces mounting public pressure to disallow the publishing of disturbing Facebook Live content such as murders and sexual assaults.

It’s a tricky one for the company as they say they are trying to respect their users’ freedom of expression.