About Our Policies
Overview
To see the full list and learn more about our policies, please review the Facebook Community Standards.
If you see something on Facebook that doesn't follow the Community Standards, please use the report links near the content.
Here are a few of the things that aren't allowed on Facebook:
- Nudity or other sexually suggestive content.
- Hate speech, credible threats or direct attacks on an individual or group.
- Content that contains self-harm or excessive violence.
- Fake or impostor profiles.
- Spam.
The following behavior isn't allowed on Facebook:
- Posting things that don't follow the Facebook Community Standards (ex: threats, hate speech, graphic violence).
- Using Facebook to bully, impersonate or harass anyone.
- Abusing Facebook features (ex: sending friend requests to many people you don't know). Overusing features could make other people feel uncomfortable or unsafe. As a result, we have limits in place to limit the rate at which you can use features. Learn more about these limits.
To learn more about our policies, please review the Facebook Community Standards.
The purchase, sale or trade of firearms, ammunition and explosives between private individuals isn't allowed on Facebook. Please refer to this help center article for a list of items covered by this policy.
Firearm shops and online retailers are allowed to engage in commercial activity involving firearms and ammunition on Facebook (ex: offering a gun for sale) as long as all applicable laws and regulations are followed.
Keep in mind that posts about firearms in general are allowed on Facebook. This includes discussions about sales in stores or by online retailers, posts advocating for changes to firearm regulation or anything else that follows Facebook's Community Standards and Terms.
The purchase, sale or trade of firearms, ammunition and explosives between private individuals isn't allowed on Facebook. This includes:
- Rifles
- Shotguns
- Machine guns
- Handguns
- Pistols
- Revolvers
- Firearm receivers
- Antique guns
- Black powder firearms
- Muzzle-loading firearms
- BB guns
- Airsoft guns
- Air guns
- Air rifles
- Paintball markers
- Firearm replicas
- Non-functioning firearms
- Curios and relics
- Destructive devices such as bombs, grenades, rockets, missiles or mines
- Ammunition components, such as blanks, bullets, bullet tips, casings, gun powder, primers, and shotgun shells
We understand that some of these items may not be legally regulated everywhere people use Facebook. In order to enforce our policies as fairly and consistently as possible, we use one broad set of standards for the entire Facebook community.
Yes. We agree that breastfeeding is natural and beautiful and we're glad to know that it's important for mothers to share their experiences with others on Facebook. The vast majority of these photos are compliant with our policies.
Please note that the photos we review are almost exclusively brought to our attention by other Facebook members who complain about them being shared on Facebook.
Yes. We agree that undergoing life-changing experience and that sharing photos can help raise awareness about breast cancer and support the men and women facing a diagnosis, undergoing treatment or living with the scars of cancer. The vast majority of these kinds of photos are compliant with our policies.
We have limits in place to prevent abuse of our features and to protect people from spam and harassment. For example, if someone is sending out a bunch of messages to people they aren't friends with, they may be warned or temporarily blocked from sending messages.
Limits are based on different factors, like speed and quantity, but we can't provide additional details on the rate limits that are enforced.
If you're blocked from using a feature on Facebook, you can learn more about feature blocks.
We participate in the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shields for certain areas of our business, as described in our Privacy Shield Notice and in our certification with the United States Department of Commerce. As part of our participation in the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shields we'll resolve disputes regarding personal data covered by our certification through TRUSTe. If you have any additional questions about our compliance with the EU-U.S. or Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield, you can contact us.
Yes, we regularly consult with external groups on a range of issues, including content policy, safety, privacy and data security. For example, experts on domestic violence and cyber-stalking sit on our Safety Advisory Board, a group of leading global safety organizations. We're in regular conversation with this group and others about our content policies, particularly as they relate to groups that have historically faced violence and discrimination.
Account Info
Facebook is a community where people use their authentic identities. It's against the Facebook Community Standards to maintain more than one personal account.
If you want to represent your business, organization, brand or product on Facebook, you can use your personal account to create and manage a Page. Keep in mind that a personal profile is for non-commercial use and represents an individual person. Learn more about converting your profile to a Page.
If you're using your profile to represent something other than yourself, you can convert it to a Page. If you're a public figure, learn about allowing followers.
If you have 2 or more accounts, learn how to move your information into a single account. You can also add another name (ex: maiden name, nickname, former name) to your account.
We don't allow joint accounts. Additionally, you can only create an account for one Facebook account per email.
Since each account belongs to one person, we require everyone to use their authentic name on their account. This way, you always know who you're connecting with. Learn more about our name policies.
No, we don’t charge you to use Facebook. Instead, we charge advertisers to show ads on the Facebook family of apps and technologies. This helps us make Facebook available to everyone without charging people for access to it.
When using Facebook, keep in mind:
- You need Internet access to use Facebook from your computer, mobile phone or tablet, and your Internet provider may charge you for this access. Learn more about data charges and connecting to Facebook on your mobile phone or tablet.
- Using some Facebook features, such as text message notifications, may also lead to charges from your mobile provider.
- If you add your payment information to Facebook, you can do things like make purchases from businesses, send money to friends, support creators on Facebook and purchase ads on Facebook.
- If you make a purchase on Facebook, we may earn a commission or transaction fee from that activity.
- You can also make purchases through Facebook for games, apps and other items.
Note: Facebook doesn't sell your information, and we don't share information that personally identifies you (information such as your name or email address that by itself can be used to contact you or identifies who you are) unless you give us permission.
Learn more about your information on Facebook and how we decide what ads to show you.
We're generally forbidden by privacy laws against giving unauthorized access to someone who isn't an account holder. We encourage parents to exercise any discretion they can on their own computers and in overseeing their kids' internet use. Please talk to your kids, educate them about internet safety and ask them to use our privacy settings and tools.
If you see an account for someone under the age of 13, please report it to us.
If your child is experiencing abuse on Facebook, we encourage you to ask them to log in to their account and report it.
For more information, please visit our Safety Center.