Facebook will now remove 'coordinated mass harassment' and 'severe sexualizing content' targeting public figures from its platform, Antigone Davis, global head of safety at Facebook, said in a blog post on October 13. Facebook has been criticised recently for having a different set of standards for high-profile users. While these new policies might offer much-needed protection from harm to public figures, they also further distinguish between high-profile users and ordinary users on Facebook. What new protections has Facebook announced for public figures? Here are the types of content Facebook will now remove from its platform: Coordinated Mass Harassment: Facebook will now remove posts and accounts that contribute to co-ordinated mass harassment, even if they don't violate the company's content policies: Coordinated efforts of mass harassment that target individuals at heightened risk of offline harm State-linked and adversarial networks of accounts, Pages and Groups that work together to harass or silence people Sexual content: To further protect public figures on the platform from sexual harassment, the company will remove 'severe sexualizing content' from the platform: Profiles, Pages, Groups or Events dedicated to sexualising the public figure Derogatory, sexualised photoshopped images and drawings Attacks through negative physical descriptions that are mentioned, or posted on the public figure’s account Degrading content depicting individuals in the process of bodily functions What other policies does Facebook have to prevent harm to public figures? Here is the additional content from which public figures are explicitly protected under Facebook's community standards for bullying and harassment: For adults: Calls…
