Facebook puts groups on ‘probation’ as it tries to stop dangerous content in wake of election results

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Facebook has put a number of groups on “probation” as part of an effort to stop the spread of dangerous content.

The measure is just one of a number of temporary changes made by the network in the wake of the US election results.

They have also included the decision to post notifications at the top of Facebook and Instagram news feeds to alert people to the fact that the election had been won by Joe Biden, in an attempt to stop the spread of false claims about the outcome of the vote.

The new changes require that the admins of of specific groups in the US approve all posts. The company hopes that will ensure those posts are in line with the group’s culture, and that they are positive contributions.

If those admins then continue to repeatedly approve posts that break Facebook’s community standards – by allowing content that spreads harm, for instance – then that group will be removed.

Facebook is more likely to ban a group if its admins or moderators approve harmful content, rather than it just being present in a group. If individual users are leaving problem posts, then admins may be required to check their posts; if they continue to be a problem, the group itself can be taken down.

“We are temporarily requiring admins and moderators of some political and social groups in the US to approve all posts, if their group has a number of Community Standards violations from members —a measure we’re taking in order to protect people during this unprecedented time," a spokesperson said.

If a group is placed under the probation measures, the admins will receive a notification that their group has been restricted, as well as a date for when the measure will be lifted. At the moment, the probation lasts 60 days, though Facebook may change that in the future.

The changes come after Facebook removed a group called “Stop The Steal”, which had hundreds of thousands of members when it was shut down last week.

“In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the group ‘Stop the Steal,’ which was creating real-world events,” a spokesperson said then.

“The group was organised around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group."

Facebook has encouraged groups as a way of allowing people to post more about specific interests, in relatively closed groups of people. But the nature of those groups means they can be harder to police than public pages.