Photograph: Paolo Carboni/Creative Commons Facebook is facing renewed criticism after its software appears to have blocked a photograph of a 16th-century statue of Neptune that stands in the Piazza del Nettuno in the Italian city of Bologna, claiming it is “sexually explicit”.
Local writer Elisa Barbari had chosen the statue, which shows Neptune naked and holding a trident, to illustrate her Facebook page “Stories, curiosities and views of Bologna.” But the Nettuno picture fell foul of the social media giant’s privacy policies, the Daily Telegraph reported.
In a statement, Facebook told the artist: “The use of the image was not approved because it violates Facebook’s guidelines on advertising. It presents an image with content that is explicitly sexual and which shows to an excessive degree the body, concentrating unnecessarily on body parts.
“The use of images or video of nude bodies or plunging necklines is not allowed, even if the use is for artistic or educational reasons.”
Barbari responded with incredulity, posting on her Facebook page: “Yes to Neptune, no to censorship.”
URL: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/02/facebook-blocks-nude-neptune-statue-bologna-italy
Local writer Elisa Barbari had chosen the statue, which shows Neptune naked and holding a trident, to illustrate her Facebook page “Stories, curiosities and views of Bologna.” But the Nettuno picture fell foul of the social media giant’s privacy policies, the Daily Telegraph reported.
In a statement, Facebook told the artist: “The use of the image was not approved because it violates Facebook’s guidelines on advertising. It presents an image with content that is explicitly sexual and which shows to an excessive degree the body, concentrating unnecessarily on body parts.
“The use of images or video of nude bodies or plunging necklines is not allowed, even if the use is for artistic or educational reasons.”
Barbari responded with incredulity, posting on her Facebook page: “Yes to Neptune, no to censorship.”
URL: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/02/facebook-blocks-nude-neptune-statue-bologna-italy
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