What you need to know
- Facebook is getting tough on groups.
- It will start punishing users who violate group rules, possibly even with bans.
- It also says it will start removing groups that break rules and will warn users if they're joining groups that have previously stepped out of line.
Facebook is tightening up on rules for groups and members who use them, with looming bans for individuals and groups that persistently break its rules.
In an announcement today the company stated:
Today we're sharing the latest in our ongoing work to keep Groups safe, which includes our thinking on how to keep recommendations safe as well as reducing privileges for those who break our rules. These changes will roll out globally over the coming months...We believe that groups and members that violate our rules should have reduced privileges and reach, with restrictions getting more severe as they accrue more violations, until we remove them completely. And when necessary in cases of severe harm, we will outright remove groups and people without these steps in between.
Facebook says it will notify users if they try to join a group that has Community Standards violations, as well as limiting the invite notifications for these groups "so people are less likely to join". It will also quash the content of the group in the News Feed of existing members, making it harder for people to discover and engage with groups that break its rules. If a group gets too many violations, admins will be forced to temporarily approve all posts, and if content that breaks the rules gets repeatedly approved, the group will be shut down.
There are similar tough measures for members:
When someone has repeated violations in groups, we will block them from being able to post or comment for a period of time in any group. They also won't be able to invite others to any groups, and won't be able to create new groups. These measures are intended to help slow down the reach of those looking to use our platform for harmful purposes and build on existing restrictions we've put in place over the last year.
You can read the full announcement here.
