Fb on Friday mentioned it’s banning content material that promotes “conversion remedy,” which relies on the unfounded notion that gays can change their sexual orientation by way of psychological or religious intervention.
Fb and its image-centric social community Instagram are updating insurance policies to require removing of content material that instantly promotes conversion remedy when such posts are flagged by customers, in line with the California-based web large.
The transfer is an extension of an present ban on advertisements that promote the tactic, which medical specialists think about ineffective and infrequently dangerous.
“We do not permit assaults towards folks based mostly on sexual orientation or gender identification and are updating our insurance policies to ban the promotion of conversion remedy companies,” a Fb spokesperson mentioned in response to an AFP inquiry.
“We’re at all times reviewing our insurance policies and can proceed to seek the advice of with specialists and other people with private experiences to tell our strategy.”
Conversion remedy “interventions” embrace electrical shock, meals deprivation and chemically-induced nausea, the American Medical Affiliation has mentioned in a report.
Empirical proof demonstrates that sexuality and gender identities in folks range naturally, with the concept of “conversion” a false impression, the report mentioned.
Such “sexual orientation change efforts” not solely do not work, they could trigger vital misery, the AMA mentioned, citing a research displaying they precipitated melancholy, nervousness, alienation, and different unwell results.
One other research cited by the AMA discovered that almost 30 p.c of people that underwent conversion remedy reported suicide makes an attempt.
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