Facebook creators are being given a new option that will help them avoid jail — “Facebook jail,” that is — upon their first violation, and at various times after. In a revised policy, announced on Wednesday, social networking giant Meta said that creators who violate the company’s Community Standards for the first time will be offered the option to take a new training course instead of receiving a formal warning.
Upon completion of the course, the warning will be removed from the user’s account, Meta explained in a blog post aimed at creators.
Typically, Facebook doles out penalties to users who break its rules, including throwing users into “Facebook jail” — a term that refers to their temporarily limited abilities to post and interact on the platform following a violation. Last year, Facebook introduced changes to this process, doling out more warnings before penalty actions were taken. Now, the company is making it possible to remove those initial warnings, too.
For creators, the change will help them maintain their reach and visibility on the platform, even if they make a mistake. It also follows a similar lightening of the penalty system run by YouTube, announced last year. Like YouTube now offers, Facebook creators will be able to take a short, educational course to wipe out their warning under the new guidelines.
As Meta explains, the updated policy is focused on “educating — not punishing” first-time rulebreakers.
The option will first be made available to Professional Mode users (creators), who will receive an in-app notification that points them to the educational training focused on the policy they violated.
In addition to removing the warning from their account, the creator will be able to participate in this “remove your warning” training again if they make no further violations for one year.
If, however, they do violate policy again within a year, they’ll receive a warning that can not be removed. Accumulating warnings and violations leads to the account facing penalties like reduced reach and more limited monetization opportunities.
The change, as well as the introduction of warnings, aims to make Facebook more approachable to newer creators who may be less familiar with its policies and rules. This, in turn, could better level the playing field for newcomers and make the platform more attractive to creators in general.
However, the company stresses that the more serious community standards will not be eligible for warning removal under this new system. This includes content that contains “sexual exploitation, the sale of high-risk drugs, or glorification of dangerous organizations and individuals,” notes Meta.
