How Facebook allows users to post footage of children being bullied

Documents also show the site allows the sharing of footage of physical bullying of children under seven, as long as there is no caption.

The social media group has ruled that anyone with more than 100,000 followers on a social media platform is a public figure, with no exceptions for minors.

The details appear in documents that detail how Facebook attempts to deal with cruel, insensitive and abusive posts on the site.

The training manuals for moderators say Facebook regards bullying as an attack on private persons with the intent to upset or silence them. But they add that you are only a private person if you are not a public figure.

According to the documents, public figures include politicians, journalists, people with 100,000 fans or followers on one of their social media accounts, or people who are mentioned [by name or title] in the title or subtitle of five or more news articles or media pieces within the last two years.

Under the headline People excluded from protection, one document adds: We want to exclude certain people who are famous or controversial in their own right and dont deserve our protection.

The types of groups and individuals excluded from protection include Jesus, the mass murderer Charles Manson, Osama bin Laden, rapists and domestic abusers, any political and religious leaders before 1900 and people who violate hate speech rules.

The documents say stars such as the singer Rihanna can be protected if the posts about them include their photo, and a caption that matches a cruelty topic.

The slides explain: Rihanna is famous in her own right for being a singer. She was also a victim of domestic violence. You can mock her for her singing, but not for being a victim of domestic violence.

However, the documents state moderators do not have to automatically delete a post, if flagged, that says: Rihanna, why are you working with Chris Brown again? Beats me as long as the image used in the post is not of the singer.

Monika Bickert, head of global policy management at Facebook, said: We allow more robust speech around public figures, but we still remove speech about public figures that crosses the line into hate speech, threats, or harassment. There are a number of criteria we use to determine who we consider a public figure.

The documents tell moderators to only automatically remove posts reported to them that combine photos of individuals with abusive captions about them.

For instance, a picture of an unidentified woman, taken from behind, who has blood on the back of her trousers, can be left on the site because, the slide says, menstruation and no additional context = ignore.

Another document describes what is allowed around physical bullying. It says sharing footage of physical bullying where no further commentary is made is allowed. Moderators should also ignore images of physical bullying of a child under seven even if they include unkind commentary such as laughter and name-calling.

One slide shows a picture of a well-known American wrestler angrily tearing off his shirt, with the caption: When you find out your daughter likes black guys. Facebook says this can be ignored because the wrestler is not black.

Another photo shows parents and children fleeing a school shooting in the US, with a caption that reads: Hope the parents kept their Christmas receipts. Facebook says this does not have to be deleted because the children in the photograph are the survivors not the victims. If the people depicted in the image were the victims the right action would have been to delete, if users complained.

Facebook said: We recognise that [some] jokes might be considered to be cruel and insensitive and the line between satire, humour, and inappropriate content can be grey.

Facebook also insisted it does not allow the mocking of people with disabilities.

That is a U-turn on policy set out in documents which were given to moderators within the last 12 months.

Previously moderators were told: We dont delete photos where theres a PDITI [person depicted in the image] thats being mocked for having a serious disease or disability.

The document included pictures of people with Downs syndrome accompanied by mocking captions; moderators were told they did not have to remove these posts if reported.

Asked about this, Facebook said the policy no longer applied and had been changed in recent months. A spokesman said: These images are not allowed.