Facebook is trying to bring more clarity to its Community Standards by publishing four new values: authenticity, safety, privacy, and dignity. The social media giant says that it continues to foster the core value of 'voice' but since there have been multiple updates to the platform through new features and services, the community standards became “expansive and nuanced”.

Facebook Community Standards with new values. Image: Facebook.

In order to meet the needs of the current scope of the platform, the new values have been published in a detailed blog post. Facebook’s Global Policy Management VP Monika Bickert said, “We’ve updated the preamble to our Community Standards to reflect these values and included it to help people understand the environment we want to foster on Facebook.”

The Community Standards are the set of rules and policies that govern what kind of content is allowed on the platform. If something doesn’t fall under these standards, it is removed. “In some cases, we allow content which would otherwise go against our Community Standards – if it is newsworthy and in the public interest. We do this only after weighing the public interest value against the risk of harm, and we look to international human rights standards to make these judgments,” said Bickert.

Whenever a certain type of content is reported, this is how the values will play a role in deciding whether it stays or not:

• Authenticity: We want to make sure the content people are seeing on Facebook is authentic. We believe that authenticity creates a better environment for sharing, and that’s why we don’t want people using Facebook to misrepresent who they are or what they’re doing.
• Safety: We are committed to making Facebook a safe place. An expression that threatens people has the potential to intimidate, exclude or silence others and isn’t allowed on Facebook.
• Privacy: We are committed to protecting personal privacy and information. Privacy gives people the freedom to be themselves and to choose how and when to share on Facebook and to connect more easily.
• Dignity: We believe that all people are equal in dignity and rights. We expect that people will respect the dignity of others and not harass or degrade others.

Bickert also acknowledged that “words mean different things” and they affect people based on their community and language. Facebook will make an effort to ensure that these nuances are factored in when the policies are being enforced to ultimately be fair to the people.