New community standards on Facebook now prevent the discussion of “sexual positions” like top and bottom, reported PinkNews.
The new content policy seeks to prevent content that “facilitates, encourages, or coordinates sexual encounters between adults” and forbids “sexually explicit language that may lead to solicitation.”
Not cool. Now you can get kicked off of facebook for four simple characters. DTF? "Sexual Solicitation" is now against terms of service on facebook- even between enthusiastically consenting adults.
— Gillis Jones (@Gillis57) December 5, 2018
Users will no longer be able to say if they’re a top or a bottom, as the list of banned content includes “sexual hints such as any mention of sexual roles, positions, or fetish scenarios.” Also banned is the “offering or asking for nude images.”
References to “commonly sexualized areas of the body such as breasts, groin, or buttocks” may also be interpreted as solicitation, as could discussion of “sexual preference/sexual partner preference.”
While the policy was enacted in October, users have only just begun to notice the change.
This news comes soon after Tumblr’s ban on porn and other NSFW imagery, which was attacked by many LGBQ users who claimed it was an erasure of the site’s many queer communities.
Facebook and Tumblr going after sexual minorities instead of the literal Nazis on their platforms is very 2018.
— L T. (@LT_OBrien) December 6, 2018
According to Gizmodo, porn and sexual solicitation were already banned on Facebook.
A spokesperson for Facebook responded to the backlash and defended the changes. “This change was prompted, in large part, by conversations with our content reviewers, who told us that the sexual exploitation policy did not adequately distinguish between exploitation… and solicitation,” they told PC Mag. “We’ll be putting out the minutes from our policy development meeting at which these changes are discusses and adopted, and we’ll also publish updates to our Community Standards so that people can track changes over time.”