Facebook bans monetizing on violence

Facebook has made it clear with its new set of rules and guidelines that some contents will not be able to earn money through advertisements. This is aimed at making advertisers more comfortable about where their ads will run and what kind of content they'll be adjacent to.

Very recently, YouTube had rolled out similar guidelines. In the guidelines that Facebook has brought out, it has laid out the policies for monetization programs like Branded Content and Instant Articles. These are the rules that are applicable in general.

Here’s the list of prohibited content that includes Misappropriation of Children’s Characters, Tragedy Content, Debated Social Issues, Violent and Adult Content, Prohibited Activity, Explicit Content, Drugs or alcohol use, and Inappropriate language.

It should be noted here that Facebook isn’t distinguishing between some publishers that glorify this content and those that share it to drive awareness or condemnation. Instead, it’s all put in together. This means that it could also push publishers away from covering certain topics in the world from war to social injustice because they won’t be earning any money.

The new guidelines and rules by Facebook is a big deal because it could shape the styles of content created for Facebook Watch, the new original programming hub it’s launched where publishers earn 55% of ad revenue.