Facebook reveals latest government data request figures

Facebook

The amount of Facebook content violating local laws increased by 11 per cent in the second half of 2014 compared to the first half, new figures reveal.

Over the course of the year, 9,707 pieces of content were restricted, up from 8,774 in the first six months of the year, the social network revealed yesterday.

Monika Bickert, head of global policy management, and Chris Sonderby, deputy general counsel, explained in the blog post: "We saw a rise in content restriction requests from countries like Turkey and Russia, and declines in places like Pakistan.

"Overall, we continue to see an increase in government requests for data and content restrictions."

Meanwhile, the number of government requests for account data increased from 34,946 to 35,051 over the course of the year.

Facebook also outlined new community standards, underlining new rules on nudity and revealing what is and isn't banned on the social network.

The Community Standards refresh has been split up into four parts: heping keep you safe, encouraging respectful behaviour, keeping your account and personal information secure and protecting your intellectual property.

The social network Facebook wants to provide more guidance on how self-injury, dangerous organizations, bullying and harassment, criminal activity, sexual violence and exploitation, nudity, hate speech, and violence and graphic content should be dealt with in particular.

They explained that different people have different attitudes towards what is a joke and what isn't and it's important for users to respect this.

Community members wanted the company to make it clearer about how hate speech is dealt with, and Bickert and Sonderby stressed they are working with leading academics, governments and community members to determine what is and isn't viewed as offensive.

Facebook will continue to use the 'report' link on posts, allowing users to send information to the social network if it belives a piece of content does not stick to these community standards and the poster will be investigated by the social network in addition to the post in question.

Bickert said: "Billions of pieces of content are shared on Facebook every day. We hope these two updates help provide more clarity about the standards we have, whether they are our own Community Standards or those imposed by different laws around the world."

Facebook has

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.