Meta Platforms is reforming its penalty system for Facebook policy violations. Based on recommendations from its Oversight Board, the company will focus more on educating users and less on punitive measures like suspending accounts or limiting posts. “While we are still removing violating content just as before,” explains Meta VP of content policy Monika Bickert, “under our new system we will focus more on helping people understand why we have removed their content, which is shown to help prevent re-offending, rather than so quickly restricting their ability to post.” The goal is fairer and more effective content moderation on Facebook.

Facebook uses automated technology as well as human content reviewers. Meta’s Oversight Board — an independent body of experts, lawyers, academics and civic leaders — has “long raised concerns about Facebook’s penalty system, which it called ‘disproportionate and opaque,’” according to TechCrunch.

The Board also advised more transparency regarding disciplinary decisions and greater opportunity for users to provide context when appealing Meta’s decisions.

Under the new system, strict penalties, such as 30-day timeouts from posting, won’t be imposed until the seventh violation in most cases, although Meta emphasized that for serious violations it will restrict posting at lower thresholds and enact immediate consequences, including account removal, where warranted.

“We’re making this change in part because we know we don’t always get it right,” Bickert published in an announcement.

“So rather than potentially over-penalizing people with a lower number of strikes from low-severity violations and limiting their ability to express themselves, this new approach will lead to faster and more impactful actions for those that continuously violate our policies,” she added.

The changes are designed to help those who find themselves in noncompliance due to mistake, carelessness or misunderstanding get on the right side of the rules.

“Historically, Meta said people found themselves in ‘Facebook jail,’ without even understanding what they did wrong,” TechCrunch writes, noting some didn’t even know why they were suddenly unable to post, with Meta sometimes doling out “strict and lengthy penalties for these lower-level violations, which were often not ill-intended.”

In a blog post, the Oversight Board called the move “a welcome step in the right direction” and said it “will continue to push for further improvements.”

“The implications of overenforcement are real — when people are unintentionally caught up in this system, they may find it hard to run their business, connect with their communities or express themselves,” Bickert said.