Facebook has announced that it plans to relax its censorship policy, considering the newsworthiness and public interest of difficult or graphic content.

The announcement follows the criticisms that Facebook received from the famous “Napalm Girl” image showing a naked child. It was reportedly taken during the Vietnam War by a Norwegian journalist, according to Tech Crunch.

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The photograph is an iconic representation of the horrors of war, but Facebook said the photograph violated its rules against nudity. 

Amid this situation, the social media giant will change its policies towards images and content, opening up the company to weigh its rules and importance of the image together.

They will allow more graphic images provided that they are considered as newsworthy, significant or important to the public interest, even if it means violating the community standards.

Facebook said it will start working with its community and partners to determine what is “significant” or “important” among the citizens, Washington Post reported.

These changes will be implemented with the use of new tools and approaches to enforcement. 

“Our intent is to allow more images and stories without posing safety risks or showing graphic images to minors and others who do not want to see them,” said Facebook’s VP of global policy Joel Kaplan via a blog post.

The Menlo Park-based social networking service said it will provide specifics on how it will evaluate images.

Its goal is to allow more important images without showing graphic posts to minors or people who prefer not to see them. These images should not pose risks or showing graphic content. The social network reiterated that its goal remains to channel its community’s values and ensure that its policies reflect the interest of the community.

TagsFacebook, NSFW content, graphic images, censorship, Facebook censorship, graphic posts, grahic content