Facebook to punish groups violating its Community Standards

Facebook groups host some of the most popular groups on the platform that allows users to meet like-minded people for various purposes, such as self-improvement or discussions about technology and current affairs. However, the platform also hosts harmful groups that promote disinformation, hatred, and violence, prompting the company to make few changes to the way it enforces its Community Group Standards.

On Wednesday, Facebook announced that it was cracking down on groups that had repeatedly violated Facebook's Community Standards while making it difficult to discover certain types of groups in a post explaining the changes to its blog. The company said it would "reduce the privileges" of those who break the rules, as described below.

The company explains that it will warn users about a group that has repeatedly violated Facebook Community Standards if they try to join it. "This group has allowed posts that violate our Community Guidelines," the pop-up explains, asking users to "review" the group and then choose between two options: Review Group and Join Group Anyway.

As part of the new offensive, users who continue to violate the Company's Community Guidelines will find that they cannot post to a group, comment on others' posts, start new groups, or invite users to join a group new. The social network's decision to hold individual members accountable is noteworthy, considering how individual users in offending groups spread most fake news.

Meanwhile, any group with many members who violate the Community Guidelines will activate a setting that forces the group owners and moderators to approve all posts that appear in the group. These moderators will have to monitor the group for problematic content, or else Facebook will remove the groups. Facebook says these new changes will take effect in several countries in the coming months.