By Elizabeth Culliford

(Reuters). – Facebook’s (NASDAQ) owner Meta Platforms shouldn’t allow people to share private residence information even when it is public, according to the company’s first policy advisory opinion.

The board https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-is-facebooks-oversight-board-2021-05-05 also recommended Meta create a communications channel so that so-called doxxing victims can better explain their cases to the company.

Doxxing involves the disclosure of confidential information that can identify an individual or company, such as their home address and phone number. This can result in harassment and stalking.

Public sharing of information can have a negative impact on both celebrities and the private lives of individuals. This raises questions around privacy and civic activism. J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) accused trans activists in a high-profile case of doxxing her. They posted a photograph of her home to Twitter (NYSE:).

Meta’s independent oversight committee, composed of lawyers and academics, was established by the company in order to decide on small content moderation appeals. It can, however, also provide advice on site policies.

Meta asked for a policy advisory opinion by the board last year on whether images and private addresses can be posted on Facebook or Instagram.

According to company rules, you shouldn’t give out any personal information. Meta could allow users to post content that is “publicly visible” if necessary.

Meta’s internal guidance for content reviewers indicated that any information made public by at least five news media outlets, or accessible through various public records would not be considered private.

Meta should eliminate this exclusion and ensure that newsworthy content exceptions should always be applied. Meta should also allow images from private homes when it is the main focus of a news article, but not to organize protests against residents.

This was Meta’s first response to an inquiry for policy advisory opinions that were not directly related to any particular case. The public response period for the company is 60 days.

In 17 cases out of 22, the oversight board has overturned Meta’s content decisions.

Twitter just expanded its privacy policies to prevent the sharing of photos and videos without the consent of individuals. But Twitter quickly acknowledged that this policy had been misused by malign actors, and that mistakes were being made by its enforcement team.