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With 2 billion users,Tags Facebook's content policies have changed a lot over the years. But one aspect that's been the same is that users have very little, if any, say about what happens after they click the "report" button -- until now.

Facebook just announced plans to widen its appeals process, which, for the first time, will allow Facebook users to formally request that the social network revisit a decision it's made about a particular piece of content.

The company is also publishing an updated set of community standards, which provides a much deeper look at its policies and how it enforces them.

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The changes come at a time when Facebook is attempting to increase transparency about a number of its policies, in the wake of criticism over how it's handled data privacy and other issues.

When it comes to community standards, one of the biggest criticisms the company's faced is that users have very little recourse when they feel like Facebook has made the wrong decision.

Over the next year, Facebook will widen its appeal process to be available to more users. Initially, this means that people who have content removed for violating the company's policies around hate speech, nudity, sexual activity, and violence will have the opportunity to ask Facebook to review a decision. Later on, Facebook will allow appeals in cases where content is reported, but not removed, as well.

Monika Bickert, Facebook's VP of product policy, says a more robust appeal process is necessary given Facebook's scale.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"With millions of reports every week, even if you maintain 99 percent accuracy, you're still going to have a lot of mistakes," she said. "Offering the appeals was a way of saying we want to make sure you have a voice. It's about empowering the individual in our community to reach out."

The company says reviews, which are conducted by human moderators, not AI tools, will happen within 24 hours and that users will be notified if their post gets restored after review.

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This is a significant expansion as appeals were previously only available to people whose profile, Page, or group were removed, meaning that most day-to-day decisions about individual posts couldn't be easily flagged for a second look.

Same standards, more detail

In addition, Facebook is trying to make its existing policies more clear, with an updated set of community guidelines. These include the more granular details about Facebook's rules that were previously only visible to the company's army of content moderators.

While the policies themselves aren't actually new, Facebook users can now see how Facebook applies its seemingly broad policies in specific types of situations. The company's policy on self-injury content, for example, has gone from 88 to 397 words. Its policy on threats of violence has gone from 62 to 535 words.

"The document is intended to mirror as closely as possible everything on the internal side," says Facebook's head of content policy Mary deBree.

The challenge for Facebook, though, is whether publicizing these standards will change users' perception of its policies. The vast majority of Facebook's 2 billion users likely haven't bothered to read its community standards, and making them significantly longer likely won't add much incentive to do so now.

The new guidelines also come at a time when distrust and frustration with the company is at an all-time high.

But by explaining them in greater detail, the company can perhaps head off some of its harshest critics who'd point out that it doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to enforcing its policies.

The new guidelines also come at a time when distrust and frustration with the company is at an all-time high. At the same time, its content policies are more consequential than ever, particularly as the social network moves into new markets where Facebook essentially isthe internet.

In these areas, Facebook's decisions about what types of content it does and doesn't allow can have far more serious implications than they do in the U.S. and other countries where other sources of information are more readily available.

Over the weekend, The New York Timespublished an in-depth piece detailing just how devastating the consequences can be when Facebook doesn't do enough to stop hate speech and content that incites violence.

Solving these issues will take more than just adding appeals or publishing a lengthy set of content guidelines. (For its part, Facebook says it's increased its ranks of content reviewers to 7,500, a 40 percent increase from last year.)

But by taking these steps, Facebook is doing something it hasn't been able to accomplish in the past: giving users an opportunity to hold the company accountable for its decisions.

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Topics Facebook Social Media