The Shock! The Horror! M[b]oobs on Facebook
Facebook Censorship Standards Made EZ!
To avoid showing any offensive boobs, in this article, all images of topless females will be replaced by this non-Facebook standards violating photo of Jack Nicholson, topless:
Censored – Just to be safe. Jack Nicholson topless.
Facebook’s arbitrary standards when it comes to censorship are nothing new. By now most of you have already heard about Facebook banning breastfeeding women:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_bans_breast-feeding_photos.php
The notorious temporary shutting down of the New Yorker’s page for the innocuous Adam and Eve cartoon, aka Nipplegate:
Nipplegate: Cartoon Female Nipple Bulges (represented here by a simulated sketch of Jack Nicholson topless) are NOT allowed.
And Wendy Pini’s troubles with first an artistic topless rendering of her blue skinned (and almost boobless) Masque of the Red Death character Bunch, and now for reposting a frequently reposted art photo. Although the blue character wasn’t exactly female, apparently the hermaphrodite character was determined by Facebook to have not (acceptable) “male nipple bulges”, but the offending “female nipple bulges”:
http://lezgetreal.com/2012/07/pinis-bunchh-censored-by-facebook/
Bunchhgate: Blue, sexually ambiguous nipple bulges are not OK on Facebook.
Well, part of the problem stems from the arbitrary nature of the policies:
Facebook’s guidelines tend to be heavy on the anti-nudity clauses, but with (generally and frequently ignored) clauses allowing nudity in art. The problem is determining who is the arbiter of what is or is not art here.
As the link above explains: the hired group of arbiters of good taste are a global group of Facebook subcontractors paid, on average, $3 to $4 an hour to flag photos. Because they are in many countries around the world, where standards of what is or is not obscene also vary, some are apt to flag things that others let go.
Is this art? What is art? Who knows at Facebook?
Although the link above averages the amount professional flaggers are paid, this one clarifies that some individuals are paid as little as one dollar an hour:
Add to this the fact that users can ALSO flag photos and what you have is a great big mess! Frequently, photos that to not violate Facebook standards (such as mothers breastfeeding where no nipplage is shown) are flagged by overzealous users, allegedly “friends” of the user.
The potentially offensive image of a breastfeeding mother and child has here been replaced by a photo of Jack Nicholson topless surrounded by teddy bears.
Sumiko Saulson 