Breastfeeding mums to protest Facebook bans
Angry mothers plan to protest outside Facebook's Sydney offices after some had their accounts suspended for posting photos of themselves breastfeeding.
Lucy Allen, 21, said she was locked out of her Facebook account for two days after she uploaded a photo of herself breastfeeding and pumping milk at the same time, News.com.au reports.
Ms Allen says the social network did not specify why her account was suspended, merely citing a "a breach of their terms of use".
Facebook’s terms of use state users cannot upload content that is hateful, pornographic, contains nudity or incites violence.
The move has sparked the creation of the "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" group, which already has 257,000 members worldwide.
Ms Allen says she has since reposted her breastfeeding image and it has not been removed by the social network's moderators.
To date 391 Facebook users have had images of breastfeeding taken down, according to Ter.ca, a site dedicated to monitoring and collecting images removed by the social network.
Stay-at-home mum April Bevin, 24, says he plans to join the Facebook protest in Sydney because she believed breastfeeding "is just a normal part of my everyday life".
"It's just really frustrating and upsetting and I think for a lot of other women they feel shamed," Ms Bevin said.
"Here they are just doing a normal everyday thing and they’re told they're performing sexually explicit and pornographic acts."
Facebook says for the most part breastfeeding photos do not clash with its policies on nudity and pornography.
However, the site said "on some occasions, breastfeeding photos contain nudity — for example an exposed breast that is not being used for feeding – and therefore violate our terms".
"When such photos are reported to us and are found to violate our policies, the person who posted the photo is contacted, and the photos are removed."
"Our policies strive to fit the needs of a diverse community while respecting everyone's interest in sharing content that is important to them, including experiences related to breastfeeding," Facebook said.
Lucy Allen, 21, said she was locked out of her Facebook account for two days after she uploaded a photo of herself breastfeeding and pumping milk at the same time, News.com.au reports.
Ms Allen says the social network did not specify why her account was suspended, merely citing a "a breach of their terms of use".
Facebook’s terms of use state users cannot upload content that is hateful, pornographic, contains nudity or incites violence.
The move has sparked the creation of the "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" group, which already has 257,000 members worldwide.
Ms Allen says she has since reposted her breastfeeding image and it has not been removed by the social network's moderators.
To date 391 Facebook users have had images of breastfeeding taken down, according to Ter.ca, a site dedicated to monitoring and collecting images removed by the social network.
Stay-at-home mum April Bevin, 24, says he plans to join the Facebook protest in Sydney because she believed breastfeeding "is just a normal part of my everyday life".
"It's just really frustrating and upsetting and I think for a lot of other women they feel shamed," Ms Bevin said.
"Here they are just doing a normal everyday thing and they’re told they're performing sexually explicit and pornographic acts."
Facebook says for the most part breastfeeding photos do not clash with its policies on nudity and pornography.
However, the site said "on some occasions, breastfeeding photos contain nudity — for example an exposed breast that is not being used for feeding – and therefore violate our terms".
"When such photos are reported to us and are found to violate our policies, the person who posted the photo is contacted, and the photos are removed."
"Our policies strive to fit the needs of a diverse community while respecting everyone's interest in sharing content that is important to them, including experiences related to breastfeeding," Facebook said.
Comments
Clearly they dont know the difference between "nudity" and "breastfeeding".
'Facebook says for the most part breastfeeding photos do not clash with its policies on nudity and pornography.'
Meaning as long as you aren't showing a nipple then your photo should be fine, won't be reported or removed, & your account will stay active. With that said, I think that facebook is doing just fine. I am all for breastfeeding, but why would you post a picture of yourself breastfeeding with your nips out in the open?
Thats where the problem is.