Facebook issues new guidelines for content creators

San Francisco: In a bid to stop fraudulent business practices as more and more publishers join its platform, Facebook has issued new standards and guidelines for content creators to ethically earn money on its "family-friendly" network.

Facebook`s list of prohibited content include misappropriation of children`s characters; tragedy and conflict; content that is incendiary, inflammatory, demeaning or disparages people, groups or causes; violence; adult content; sale or use of illegal or illicit products, services or activities and drugs or alcohol use.

Facebook has recently introduced a range of monetisation options, including "Branded Content" and "Instant Articles".

"More recently, we`ve been testing Ad Breaks with a group of publishers, and we`re working on opening it up more broadly," said Nick Grudin, Vice President of Media Partnerships, Facebook, in a blog post.

"As we continue to expand our monetisation offerings, it`s important that we provide clear guidelines around what can and cannot be monetised on our platform," Grudin added.

Those creators and publishers, who are violating Facebook policies regarding intellectual property, authenticity and user safety or are engaging in fraudulent business practices, may be ineligible to monetise using the features.

"Those who share content that repeatedly violates our Content Guidelines for Monetisation, share clickbait or sensationalism, or post misinformation and false news may be ineligible or may lose their eligibility to monetize," the post warned.

Creators and publishers must have an authentic, established presence on Facebook.

These guidelines also apply to videos on Facebook and will extend to "Instant Articles" over time.

"Keep in mind that even if your content is eligible for ads, some brands and advertisers may choose to use brand safety controls to tailor where their ads run," Grudin said.

According to Facebook, it will notify publishers if ads are removed from their content and they can appeal the decisions.