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Demand Facebook Remove Pages That Promote Sexual Violence
  1. Signatures
    197,212 out of 200,000
    Petitioning
    1. CEO, Facebook (+ 2 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • CEO, Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg)
      • COO, Facebook (Sheryl Sandberg)
      • PPCM, Facebook (Andrew Noyes)
  2. Created By
    John Raines
    Ocala, FL
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
Why This Is Important

The following are actual pages on Facebook: “Kicking Sluts in the Vagina,” “I know a silly little bitch that needs a good slap,” and “Riding your Girlfriend softly, Cause you dont want to wake her up.” These clearly are in violation of Facebook's own policies and need to be removed.

Facebook’s own Terms of Service prohibit content that is “hateful, threatening,” or contains “graphic or gratuitous violence” Moreover, users are specifically barred from posting content that aims to “bully, intimidate, or harass” any user.

Facebook could and should do more to stop them from popping up in the first place and to swiftly remove those that do exist. First, Facebook needs to clarify that pages that encourage or condone rape --like the ones mentioned above-- are in violation of their existing standards. Secondly, they need to make a statement that all pages that describe sexual violence in a threatening way will be immediately taken down upon being reported. Finally, Facebook must include specific language in their Terms of Service that make it clear that pages promoting any form of sexual violence will be banned.

Demand that Facebook took a stronger stand in enforcing its own policies and stop promoting rape and rape culture.

Click on 'petition activity' to see examples of the Facebook pages that promote rape and violence.

UPDATE: Facebook has deleted many of these pages following pressure from this campaign, but they'll still failed to make a public statement against pro-rape pages or permanent changes to their terms of use, and new pages are already popping up.

Organizers have a list of four demands in response:

1. Make a public statement that rape is never acceptable; that promoting sexual violence and violence against women is repugnant; that Facebook will remove content that advocates rape, sexual violence, and violence against women; and that the terms of service/community standards will be updated to specify this.

2. Address in a public statement that the previous “pub joke” defense was poorly stated, explaining that alleging humour does not give a free pass to promote any hate content; that Facebook does not consider promoting violence against women or sexual assault to be a joke or funny; and that such content will be held to the same standard as any violence against any other group or individual.

3. Be transparent about the content monitoring process; to state publicly if and how many pages are removed that promote sexual violence or violence against women; and to establish relationships with experts in sexual violence and violence against women who will help identify content that needs to be removed.

4. Update its terms of service/community standards to specify that: “Content earnestly promoting violence against women or sexual violence violates Facebook’s terms of use and will accordingly be removed whenever reported.” In addition to the internal reporting system, provide a public contact email for users to register complaints about content that violates the terms of service/community standards, that will acknowledge receipt and respond with a decision on whether or not to remove.

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Enforce Terms of Service & Remove Pages Promoting Sexual Violence

Greetings,

As shocking as it may seem, the following are actual pages on Facebook: “Kicking Sluts in the Vagina,” “I know a silly little bitch that needs a good slap,” and “Riding your Girlfriend softly, Cause you dont want to wake her up.” These are but a few of the anti-woman hate groups on Facebook that need to be taken down immediately.

Facebook’s own Terms of Service prohibit content that is “hateful, threatening,” or contains “graphic or gratuitous violence” (Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, Section 3, item 7). Moreover, users are specifically barred from posting content that aims to “bully, intimidate, or harass” any user. Any reasonable person can see that groups that promote rape and violence against women clearly violate those terms.

While these groups already cross into prohibited territory, Facebook could and should do more to stop them from popping up in the first place and to swiftly remove those that do exist. First, Facebook needs to clarify that pages that encourage or condone rape --like the ones mentioned above-- are in violation of their existing standards. Secondly, they need to make a statement that all pages that describe sexual violence in a threatening way will be immediately taken down upon being reported. Finally, Facebook must include specific language in their Terms of Service that make it clear that pages promoting any form of sexual violence will be banned.

It is time that Facebook took a stronger stand in enforcing its own policies. Please take action on the above items so that Facebook does not become a gathering place for sexual sadists and predators.

[Your name]