By Jordan McDonald
Off the back of another tough news week, Facebook has provided its most revealing look at the types of content it limits in your news feed.
Facebook has published their current Content Distribution Guidelines on Newsroom and the document provides users with a clear list of the types of content the platform actively demotes.
The post to Newsroom follows the Wall Street Journal’s recent investigation where one story revealed that the company allowed high-profile users to avoid moderation of their content and still post despite violating the platforms terms of use.
Throughout the years of Facebook scrutiny, Mark Zuckerberg has consistently said that all 2.85 billion users are given the same fair and equal opportunity when posting on Facebook.
It means that whether I post, Justin Bieber posts, or President Joe Biden posts, the rules apply all the same.
But the Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that to be wrong.
A program called XCheck (or cross check), originally installed to assist with quality-control measures taken again accounts of celebrities, politicians and journalists, instead has evolved within Facebook to where it’s been said to whitelist certain accounts, allowing them to bypass normal enforcement processes on the platform.
It’s a concerning bust for Facebook who not long ago changed their algorithm after they noticed an emerging trend of decreased user engagement.
You can’t help but wonder if Facebook ever intends to genuinely address issues on its platform – perhaps these new guidelines about what posts are limited is a start in the right direction.
Facebook has listed 12 types of content which receive reduced distribution and point out why.
“Our content distribution guidelines outline some of the types of content that receive reduced distribution in News Feed. Our enforcements to reduce problematic content in News Feed are rooted in our commitment to the values of responding to people's direct feedback, incentivising publishers to invest in high-quality content and fostering a safer community.”
So, what are the sorts of content that get demoted? They are:
- Ad farms: A post that contains a link to a website that is filled with ads
- Clickbait: We’re all familiar with this sort of post
- Comments likely to be hidden or reported: These comments are identified based on past insight gained from previously hidden or reported comments
- Engagement bait: Posts that ask for specific engagement that isn’t a call to action
- Links to suspected cloaking domains: These are links that have been built to disguise the actual destination to bypass detection by Facebook
- Links to websites requesting unnecessary user data: this does include websites that ask for your personal information before showing you the content you came for
- Low-quality browsing experiences: this flags websites with errors in them or that don’t offer a mobile display
- Low-quality comments: these are comments that Facebook doesn’t think adds to the conversation online – comments with @tags only, or copy and pasted spam text
- Low-quality events: these are events that have incomplete information or are associated with accounts that are believed to show spam or inappropriate behaviour
- Low-quality videos: these are often live broadcasts that aren’t showing live events – polls, static, looping animation
- Pages predicted to be spam: pages that Facebook has detected as malware or publishing spam content
- Sensationalist health content and commercial health posts: these have been prominent during the Covid pandemic – claims of medical advice, ‘miracle cures’, or promotions of health products for the purpose of selling
For most people on Facebook, these items offer some new transparency about how Facebook is seemingly working to improve your time on the platform.
Facebook has a long road ahead to rebuild trust with its users but continuing to provide information like this and combining that with more tools to report and give feedback is a step in the right direction.
For businesses, it’s a reminder to continue producing and publishing high-quality content to encourage your audiences to engage.
It’s become really challenging for businesses to reach new audiences, even their existing audience, for the last two years.
As Facebook works to reduce the vast amount of inauthentic content, business pages should start to see those audience engagements increase again.