Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Facebook Is Sorry for Taking Down a Photo of a Nude Neptune Statue (fortune.com)

Posted by msmash on from the handling-1.5-billion-people dept.

Facebook has apologized for mistakenly blocking a photo of a famous statue for being "sexually explicit." From a report on Fortune: The social media giant flagged a photograph of a 16th-century statue of the sea god Neptune in the Italian city of Bologna. The picture of the sculpture -- which was created in the 1560s -- was featured on the Facebook page of local writer and art historian Elisa Barbari called "Stories, curiosities and view of Bologna." Facebook told Barbari that the picture violated the company's privacy policies. "It shows an image with content that is explicitly sexual and which excessively shows the body or unnecessarily concentrates on body parts," the company said in a statement. The company added: "The usage of images or video of nude bodies or plunging necklines is not allowed, even if the use is for artistic or educational reasons." Facebook later said that blocking the photo was a mistake.

15 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Remember this when they decide fake news... by aicrules · · Score: 3, Insightful

    oops we accidentally removed your verified news article that just happened to conflict with our corporate interests or political views....

    1. Re:Remember this when they decide fake news... by bsdasym · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's zero chance that an "image detection algorithm" flagged that statue. Zero.

    2. Re:Remember this when they decide fake news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, the image detection algorithm that flagged that, automatically, is clearly a conspiracy to control "fake news".

      You are kinda dumb aren't you?

      The "controlling fake news" conspiracy literally is this. You now have the option when flagging a story, to mark it as fake news. That's it. It's not even an automated process (yet) it's literally giving YOU the ability to alert THEM to fake stories.

      So, unless you are an asshole spreading bullshit fake news, you should be happy. But going from your tone, I think we all know you are all up in that pizzagate... Right?

      "Fake news" only became a big deal when Democrats and the media that said Hillary! would win had to excuse her loss instead.

      Want to talk about "fake news"? Now half of all Democrat voters actually believe that the Russian government directly affected vote counts to allow Trump to win.

      Now there's some "fake, narrative-driven news" for you - all for the Democrat's and partisan media's goal to delegitimize Trump's win.

      And it's brought to you by the same folks at CBS, ABC, NBC, The New York Times, and of course the "Russians-also-hacked-the-electricity-grid-ooops-forget-we-published-that" Washington Post:

      'Fake News' And How The Washington Post Rewrote Its Story On Russian Hacking Of The Power Grid

    3. Re: Remember this when they decide fake news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Fake news has been a problem for years, just the advertising purporting to be factual content has been problem enough, but there's been no shortage of criticisms of deceitful agenda-driven stories.

      Whether it be Holocaust denial, global warming denial, birthers, truthers or exploding trucks.

      But hey, Trump voters still believe some crazy shit.

      What's up with Pizza Gate and thinking you won a landslide, el fanno de Trump?

    4. Re:Remember this when they decide fake news... by epyT-R · · Score: 1, Insightful

      That flag is about as good as the 'troll' flag is on slashdot at identifying intent. It's just as likely that the flagger is the one attempting to bias output...

    5. Re:Remember this when they decide fake news... by Calydor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think letting kids believe the world is some kind of Disney-fied wonderland can ultimately prove harmful when they suddenly become aware that THEY have genitals. And they will become aware of that.

      Should kids be sat down and made to watch hentai? Of course not.
      Should kids be shielded from ever seeing that there is anything sexual anywhere ever? Of course not.
      Should kids be given an explanation about what sex is? Definitely.

      Are kids going to be traumatically scarred by seeing an anatomically correct statue on Facebook? Only if you have utterly and miserably failed in preparing them for the Real World.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  2. Re:This is an automatic process by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Ditto. This crap belongs on Yahoo "News", not Slashdot. "OMG - view this one weird picture Facebook banned"

  3. Re:This is an automatic process by omnichad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A false positive that hasn't been seen by a human should be reversible by the poster and restored immediately. It can be added to a queue for human review in the meantime.

    Facebook has so many options for getting this right.

  4. Don't Worry by Comboman · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "The usage of images or video of nude bodies or plunging necklines is not allowed, even if the use is for artistic or educational reasons."

    But don't worry, hate-filled racist "jokes" and biased fake news stories are still A-OK. Facebook has it's priorities straight.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
  5. Know it when they see it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If "the usage of images or video of nude bodies or plunging necklines is not allowed, even if the use is for artistic or educational reasons", then how was taking down that photo a mistake? That's exactly what it is.

    But hey, wouldn't want people to see censorship for what it is, so better make an exception real quick!

  6. Plunging necklines? by shaitand · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seriously? Puritanbook.

    1. Re:Plunging necklines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes. And nipples. That's why religious folks don't breastfeed or they cover the infant's eyes to that it can't see those filthy disgusting *gasp* NIPPLES!

      Because the child will be irreparably harmed if it should see a *whispering* N-I-P-P-L-E.

      It's better to distract them with a nice wholesome video game where they can blow fake people's heads off.

  7. Is nudity allowed or not? by Stan92057 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    what they should be sorry for is the continued confusion of their very confusing nudity TOS rules. They say no nudity for any reason,then say sorry for removing a nude image....Is nudity allowed or not. Have the balls to enforce the rules you create zook or change them. Any problems FB has in this matter are of their own making by being balless cowards. I would hate to be working on thier abuse team.

    --
    Jack of all trades,master of none
  8. I don't get the double standard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Logic tells me a schlong is a schlong.
     
    Sculpture or real, it should either be ok to post it or not okay to post it.
     
    Personally, I think the over-reactive attitude we here in America have about human body parts is annoyingly illogical.
     
    They have ads and movies with (omg, quick, cover your eyes!!!) bare breasts for everyone to see in parts of Europe, and the people in those countries seem to do just fine.

  9. Automatically plunging necklines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, you're good with "plunging necklines" being something that must be hidden from your poor, frightened eyes?

    Facebook is your basic double-padded room for hysterical body-shamed twerps.

    You be safe, now. And remember: if you're anywhere but on SafeBook, For Dog's Sake, CLOSE YOUR TENDER LITTLE EYES!