Artworks That Facebook So Oddly Censored As NSFW, ‘Pornographic Material’
Composite image by DesignTAXI. Facebook logo via Wikimedia Commons (public domain), background image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
The bashful “eyes” of Facebook’s algorithm are at it again. This time, it’s flagged the iconic French painting, Liberty leads the People, for the uncovered breasts that front the artwork.
The social network has landed itself in hot soup over its myopic censorships—with one case leading to a lawsuit .
The wrongful bans have sparked a discussion about artistic freedom. Users have also wondered why Facebook might be so unwavering about nudity censorships, and yet gloss over hate speech and portrayals of violence.
Have a look at five artworks that Facebook has banned and marked as “pornographic material.”
Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix (1830)
Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
This painting portrays the July Revolution of 1830 that left King Charles X of France defeated. The artist, Eugène Delacroix, used a bare-chested woman as a metaphor for liberty. Facebook recently took down an online campaign displaying the artwork and apologized “for this error” on 18 March 2018.
“The work Liberty Leading the People rightly has its place on Facebook… We have immediately informed the user that his sponsored publicity is henceforth approved,” wrote Elodie Larcis, a manager in Facebook Paris.
L’Origine du monde (The origin of the world) by Gustave Courbet (1866)
Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
A controversial piece, L’Origine du monde was first put on display only in 1988—more than a century after its artist, Gustave Courbet, completed it.
In 2011, a French teacher shared the painting on Facebook, only to have his account shut down by the social network. The former demanded US$22,500 in damages, in addition to the re-activation of his account.
In March 2018, a court ruled that Facebook did not have to offer compensation to the plaintiff.
Venus of Willendorf (28,000 to 25,000 BCE)
Image via Ziko van Dijk / Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA 2.0)
Facebook marked this busty, 30,000-year-old statue as “dangerously pornographic,” but later apologized to the self-declared “artivist” who uploaded an image of the sculpture.
Fountain of Neptune, Bologna (1567)
Image via G.dallorto / Wikimedia Commons
In 2017, an author from Italy shared a number of stories that were set in Bologna. A picture of the Fountain of Neptune was included in the collection. Facebook blocked the photo and marked it as “explicitly sexual.”
The Little Mermaid (1913)
Image via Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The famous statue in Copenhagen was apparently too obscene for Facebook’s algorithm. Denmark’s former minister of agriculture had shared a photo of the monument, only to have it removed by Facebook.
According to the platform, it had “too much bare skin or sexual undertones,” but it later apologized and retrieved the image.
[via Deutsche Welle , images via various source]
March 24, 2018 at 11:09PM
via http://www.designtaxi.com/news/398862/Artworks-That-Facebook-So-Oddly-Censored-As-NSFW-Pornographic-Material/?utm_source=ifttt