After rolling out a new means to help creators avoid rule violation penalties on Facebook back in August, Meta is now expanding this approach to penalty notices on Instagram as well, which will help users to side-step strikes and penalties allocated to their profile.
As you can see in this overview, under Meta’s updated enforcement approach, first-time rule breakers for what Meta considers more minor offenses will be able to avoid account penalties by undergoing a brief survey-type course to better understand the rules.
As explained by Meta:
“Our Community Standards outline what is and isn’t allowed on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and Messenger. When content violates these standards, we remove the content and assign a “strike” to the account that posted it. As strikes accrue, particularly on serious violations, they often come with account restrictions. However, we know everyone makes mistakes. Our research shows that the vast majority of users don’t intend to break our rules and may not even be aware that they’re doing so.”
As such, the new system will provide a means to learn about the rules, and acknowledge that education, in order to avoid penalties for initial offenses.
“This feature allows people to erase their first strike and any resulting account restrictions by completing a short educational program. We believe a focus on better explaining our policies rather than just punishing people will be a more effective way of helping people understand our policies and keeping our platforms safe.”
And on Facebook at least, that approach appears to be working. Meta says that creators who’ve undergone this process are more likely to indicate that they understood Facebook’s policy decisions, and are therefore less likely to violate that policy again.
“In fact, we saw a 15% increase in people feeling they better understood our policies and enforcement.”
So, better for Meta, in that it keeps accounts posting, and better for creators, who avoid the frustration of being penalized when they didn’t understand the rule in question.
Meta says that this option is not available for the most serious violations of Community Standards, including posting content that involves sexual exploitation, the sale of high-risk drugs, or the glorification of dangerous organizations and individuals.
So it doesn’t cover all rules, but it will give those who violate lesser regulations the opportunity to avoid further penalty, and essentially give them the benefit of the doubt, rather than a more heavy-handed approach.
The update was recommended to Meta by its independent Oversight Board, which has long been critical of the company’s black and white handling of such cases. The process also replicates how YouTube handles the same, with educational guidance helping to inform and educate, rather than punish.
And based on the above notes from Meta, it does seem like a better approach, which will ensure that creators can been posting, while also raising awareness of the relevant platform rules.
Meta says that it will “continue to adjust the program in the future as needed.”
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