If you’ve been on social media lately, you’ve probably encountered this image before.
Facebook is once again cracking down on sexual harassment and has recently renewed its policies. Now you can discuss all issues related to sexual harassment and violation, but you cannot post anything which may spur to sexual relations.
We are recommending to your clients and partners to be aware of these new changes. Please update your knowledge with respect to this new information to avoid any pages you manage being banned.
New rules prohibit.
- General statements containing sexual implications, e.g.: “I’d have some fun with a girl tonight”.
- Sexually provocative slang (no explanations or clarifications here, and it means that you had better avoid this topic at all).
- Hints containing sexual implications (e.g., mentions of sex game roles, sex positions or fetishistic scenarios).
- Content (including hand-drawn images as well as digital or physical objects) which may obviously illustrate a sex act or people in sex positions).
- Offers or requests to take part in some activity of a sexual nature (e.g., porn or search for a sexual partner who shares your interests in fetishism).
- Expressions of a sexual nature beyond common mentions of the sexual arousal or a sex act.
- Striptease shows, erotic dances, erotic or tantric massage videos.
- Content representing obvious sexual harassment (including request, search for/offer to have sexual relations), sex partners, correspondence containing sexual implications, images of naked body.
- And forget about sex-related parts of body, e.g., breasts, groin and buttocks.
You can find the full list of restrictions here: https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/sexual_solicitation
You may think that it is nothing to worry about and the network will even get benefits from it getting rid of all “dirt”, but it’s actually quite a misleading impression. In this connection, it is expected that the following groups of users will be forced to quit Facebook:
- Obstetricians;
- Gynecologists;
- Sexologists;
- Sex bloggers;
- Surgeons specializing in intimate plastic surgeries;
- Doulas (pregnancy and childbirth female assistants);
- Dancers;
- Yoni and lingam massage specialists;
- Artists specializing in erotic art.
There are some loopholes in the new rules however. For example, you could write a post via your mobile device and do not “Publish” but make a screenshot and then publish it. The same can be applied to notes. Write a note, make a screenshot, and post as picture in which the text still can be easily read. This way you will be able to share “forbidden” points of view and to avoid blocking (unless someone complains and reports it), because the algorithms will not yet recognize text in images.
To be short, it is possible to adapt but we expect many users will simply move to some other more tolerant network (by the way, not Instagram, as these same restrictions apply to that network as well).
If you have any questions about the best ways to promote content on Facebook, Instagram or any social network. Please contact us to discuss.
Bryan Bruce
407-203-6767
