Facebook removes famous 16th century statue for nudity
After calling sculpture of Neptune in Bologna 'sexually explicit,' social media giant later reverses its decision
Facebook was forced to apologize to one of its users after the social-media giant removed an image of a famous nude 16th century statue in Bologna on the grounds it was “sexually explicit.”
Elisa Barbari, a writer from the city, had posted the picture of the naked statue of the Roman god Neptune in Bologna’s Piazza del Nettuno as an illustrative photo for her Facebook page “Stories, curiosities and views of Bologna,” according to the British daily The Guardian.
The sculpture was made in the 1560s by the Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne — known locally as the Italian Giambologna — and has been the focal point of the plaza in the city’s center ever since.
Facebook deleted the image, saying in a statement that “the use of the image was not approved because it violates Facebook’s guidelines on advertising. It presents an image with content that is explicitly sexual and which shows to an excessive degree the body, concentrating unnecessarily on body parts,” The Guardian reported.
The social media giant added in its statement that “the use of images or video of nude bodies or plunging necklines is not allowed, even if the use is for artistic or educational reasons.”
Barbari reacted furiously to the picture’s removal from her Facebook page and told the British daily The Telegraph that “I wanted to promote my page but it seems that for Facebook the statue is a sexually explicit image that shows off too much flesh. Really, Neptune? This is crazy!”
She also told The Telegraph that “back in the 1950s, during celebrations for school children graduating, they used to cover up Neptune,” adding that “maybe Facebook would prefer the statue to be dressed again.”
Barbari also wrote on her Facebook page “yes to Neptune, no to censorship” in response to the company’s actions.
Facebook later apologized for censoring the image, with a spokesperson saying in a statement to The Guardian: “Our team processes millions of advertising images each week, and in some instances we incorrectly prohibit ads. This image does not violate our ad policies. We apologize for the error and have let the advertiser know we are approving their ad.”
The incident is not the first time that Facebook has faced controversy over what has been viewed as its overly zealous policies on the appropriateness of content posted on users’ pages.
In September 2016, the social media giant found itself at loggerheads with the Norwegian government after the company had removed postings by a Norwegian artist and the country’s foreign minister of an iconic 1972 image of a naked, screaming girl running from a napalm attack in Vietnam.
Facebook later reversed its decision to remove the photo after the move sparked outrage in Norway, saying in a statement at the time that “in this case, we recognize the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time,” while adding that “because of its status as an iconic image of historical importance, the value of permitting sharing outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal, so we have decided to reinstate the image on Facebook where we are aware it has been removed.”
