Staying safe online: tools and policies for political partners on Facebook and Instagram

As a candidate running for office or an elected official, Facebook and Instagram offer powerful tools to help you communicate with constituents, share updates about your work and receive feedback. However, we recognise that public figures may sometimes encounter inappropriate behaviour on our platforms. As a political representative, you may experience such behaviour on your own Page or elsewhere on the platform.

Meta employs a range of measures to support politicians and public figures, focusing on safety, security and reporting malicious behaviour.

Our policies: what is and isn't acceptable and when to report content

We are committed to making Facebook and Instagram safe spaces for communication. Our Community Standards are regularly reviewed and updated, outlining what is and isn't allowed. These policies are informed by community feedback and expert advice in technology, public safety and human rights.

To demonstrate our commitment, we publish the Community Standards Enforcement Report, which shares metrics on our efforts to prevent and address content that violates our standards. Actions may include removing content or applying warning screens.

• Bullying and harassment can take many forms, including threats or sharing personally identifiable information. Such behaviour is not tolerated on our platforms.
• In our policies, we distinguish between public figures and private individuals to allow open discussion, which can sometimes include critical commentary. For public figures, we remove severe attacks and certain direct attacks, such as gendered cursing, especially when the public figure is tagged. Posts containing this language and the name of a public figure will also be removed when reported by the target, even if not directly exposed.
• Our Violence and Incitement Policy covers "high-severity violence", removing threats – even those lacking credibility. We also remove threats of mid-severity violence against vulnerable people (which includes nationally elected politicians), private individuals and minors. We support political expression and robust political debate, but there is no place on our platforms for incitement of violence or threatening behavior.

Reporting content that may violate these rules

Every piece of content on Facebook has a report button, allowing users to flag it for review against our Community Standards. In addition to removing violating content, we refer cases to law enforcement authorities when we become aware of an imminent threat. Our Community Operations teams are available 24/7. We continue to invest in automated techniques and AI to proactively remove harmful content. Learn more about how to report things in our Help Centre.

Using our Page moderation tools to protect your Page and ensure that you and your followers have a positive experience

To help prevent negative content from appearing on your Page, we offer a range of moderation tools:

• Hide or delete individual comments
• Proactively moderate comments and posts by visitors
• Enable the profanity filter or block specific words/lists of words
• Remove or ban people from your Page using admin tools

*There may be restrictions on the ability of government or political officials to take these actions pursuant to applicable laws and regulations. Please consult with your ethics or legal counsel if you have questions.

If you have any issues, concerns or questions, you can contact our team.