Did someone post something that goes against Facebook’s community guidelines? Do you know how to report abuse on Facebook?
In this article, we will explain how to report the following:
• Facebook profiles
• Facebook posts
• Posts on your timeline
• Inbox messages
• Facebook pages
• Facebook groups
How to Report a Facebook Profile
You can report a Facebook profile by doing the following:
1. Click the … button on the bottom-right corner of your cover photo.
2. Choose ‘Report.’
3. Select the ‘Report this Profile’ option.
4. Tell Facebook why you want to report the profile.
Here are the reasons for why you could report a Facebook profile:
5. Answer the follow-up questions they ask you.
For example, if you report that this person is annoying, they will ask you, “What are they doing?” Is the person constantly sending you friend requests when you don’t know them? Are they sending you spammy inbox messages? Are they trolling you by posting annoying things on your timeline?
Once you answer the questions they provide you, they will give you a list of things you can do based on what you chose.
How to Report a Facebook Post
People come across inappropriate content all the time. You might have even come across a pornographic image or a graphic video. Both of these go against Facebook’s community standards.
You could report these offensive and/or inappropriate posts by going to their profile and selecting the option, “They’re sharing inappropriate or offensive posts” in Step 4, but you don’t have to go to someone’s profile to do it. Instead:
1. Find the post you want report; it could be on your Facebook timeline.
2. Click on the arrow on the top-right to open a drop-down menu.
3. Select ‘Report photo’ (or ‘Report post’ or ‘Report Video’).
After that you will receive the following pop-up screen:
4. Select one of the above options.
How to Report Posts from Your Facebook Timeline
As of September 2016, reporting posts on your timeline no longer exists.
Why? Because Facebook only allows our friends to post stuff on our timelines.
That said, Facebook friends can still post things you may not like. They could cyber bully you, for example, or post something against Facebook’s community standards.
If this happens, delete it from your timeline by clicking the arrow in the top-right corner and selecting the ‘Delete’ option.
How to Report Posts from Your Facebook Inbox
Unlike your timeline, strangers on Facebook can contact you in your inbox. (Think of your inbox as an email.)
If you report a spam account, you might receive a message like this:
If you are being bullied privately and want them off Facebook, be sure to go to their profile and report them.
Otherwise, you can just block them, or stop them from sending you messages by deleting the ‘Block Messages’ option.
How to Report a Facebook Page
Did you know that people can create Facebook pages? It’s one of the infamous ways online extremists target and recruit people.
All it takes is a few buttons, and they can set up their own page and invite you to join them.
Extremists can create fake pages that target certain people (including teenagers) using the following elements.
If you ever get invited to a skeptical-looking page, be sure to report it to Facebook by hovering over the ‘More’ button on top of the page and selecting ‘Report Page.’
Then select one of the reasons why the page should be taken down.
If you select the option, ‘It should not be on Facebook’ and they ask you why, you can choose between one of the following:
• It’s threatening, violent or suicidal
• It’s hate speech
• It’s sexually explicit
• It describes bullying or selling drugs, guns or adult products
How to Report a Facebook Group
Similar to Facebook pages, people with bad intentions could create secret groups.
Groups are different from pages in that groups can be a lot more secretive. In other words, people can create groups to plot things against someone or a group of people. (Refer to the visual below.)
Several cyber bullies and online extremist have used this application in the past.
If you have been invited to (or added to) a group that goes against Facebook’s guidelines, you can report it by reporting it as demonstrated in the screenshot below:
Then select one of the following options:
A Few More Tips
1. You might be Facebook friends, but your ‘friend’ might post content you don’t want to see. If this ever happens, you have the ‘Unfollow’ option. Simply go to one of his posts, click on the arrow, and select ‘Unfollow: Stop seeing posts but stay friends.’
2. Take screenshots of abusive content and save the evidence if someone keeps bothering you on Facebook. The UAE and other GCC countries work hard to make sure that your digital experience is a safe one, and the police will listen to you if you need to report something.
You can take screenshots on iPhones by pressing the ‘home’ and ‘power’ buttons together; if you have an Android, press the ‘volume down’ and ‘power’ buttons together.
3. Finally, if you live in the GCC, take advantage of your country’s national hotlines; they are very helpful. Check out our full list of hotlines in the GCC if you ever need advice or need to talk to someone about these problems.
If you’re curious to know what happened after you reported it, you can track it!
Simply go to your Support Inbox. Your case will either be ‘In Review’ or ‘Closed.’
If it’s in review, it means Facebook is still looking into the issue. If it’s closed, that means they came to a decision and they believe the problem has been solved.
If you have any other questions regarding Facebook’s reporting options, refer to Facebook’s Help Center. Feel free to contact us if you have any comments related to this article.