Facebook reconsiders nudity policy

Thursday 27 June 2019, 21:21 by Michelle Peeters | 4,446 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Facebook reconsiders nudity policy after major nude photoshoot at New York City headquarters.

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has announced that Facebook will reconsider its policy on 'artistic nudity' after a major nude photoshoot took place outside the company's headquarters in New York City.

In April, the NCAC launched the #WeTheNipple campaign, calling on Facebook and Instagram over their nudity policy.

NCAC is one of the groups talking to Facebook. Facebook's policy department will set up a group with artists, educators, museum curators and activists.

That group will work with Facebook employees to look at how a new approach to nude images can be implemented on the platform. The NCAC wants Facebook to better understand the harm artists suffer because of the policy.

Social media have dramatically increased artists' ability to reach and build their audiences, the NCAC said as part of its campaign. Unless their medium is photography and their subject is the body.

On the current policy page describing the subject, Facebook says: Our nudity policy has become more nuanced over time. To give an example of this 'more nuanced' approach, the company explains:

For example, we restrict some images of female breasts showing the nipple, but allow other images, including images of protests, women actively breastfeeding and photos of post-mastectomy scars. We also allow photos of paintings, sculptures and other art that depict nude figures.

At the moment, Facebook explicitly bans images of 'real nude adults' in several categories.

An exception is made for images with nude figures in 'paintings, sculptures and other art', but critics point out that the social network has repeatedly removed artistic images showing nudity in the past.

On 2 June, American photographer Spencer Tunick, who has a long history of organising large nude photoshoots, placed artistic photos of 125 nude, painted people outside Facebook's headquarters in New York City.

The images, which were shared on Instagram, featured nude participants using 'male nipple stickers' and prints to cover the parts of their bodies that Facebook's nudity policy does not allow to be shown.

According to the NCAC, Facebook's policy team will bring together a group of its employees and stakeholders, including artists, museum curators and activists, and examine how artists can be better supported on the platform.

The NCAC says it will convene this group together with Facebook to ensure that its policy is 'properly shaped by external experts and perspectives'.

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