Elisa Barbari, a local writer from Bologna, Italy, where the iconic statue stands, attempted to use the image to advertise her Facebook page: “Stories, curiosities and views of Bologna.”
“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,” claimed Barbari , whose advert was denied by Facebook. “Really, Neptune? This is crazy!”
“Back in the 1950s, during celebrations for school children graduating, they used to cover up Neptune,” she continued . “Maybe Facebook would prefer the statue to be dressed again… How can a work of art, our very own statue of Neptune, be the object of censorship?”
In their statement, Facebook cited the social network’s rules against “nude bodies” as the reason why the image was censored, adding that there were no exceptions for “artistic or educational reasons.”
“The use of the image was not approved because it violates Facebook’s guide lines on advertising,” declared Facebook . “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 use of images or video of nude bodies or plunging necklines is not allowed, even if the use is for artistic or educational reasons,” they concluded.
In September, Facebook came under criticism after they censored an iconic image from the Vietnam war, portraying a naked crying girl during a napalm attack .
The censorship of the image led to sanctions by the company against Norwegian author Tom Egeland, the editor of Norway’s largest newspaper Epsen Egil Hansen, and even the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who eventually received an apology from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.
Afterposten editor Epsen Egil Hansen criticized Facebook’s move , proclaiming that he thought the company were “abusing” their power, while Prime Minister Erna Solberg claimed that “What they do in removing such pictures, whatever their reasons, is to edit our common history.”
The social network has also taken a firm stance against harmless comedy meme pages, deleting and then reinstating the popular anti-SJW page “Meninist,” removing anti-Hillary Clinton comedy pages , and even sanctioning page admins for uploading pictures of the rapper Drake morphed into a Nintendo 64 controller , forcing Facebook’s top content creators to start numerous revolts against the social network .
However, Facebook have repeatedly refused to deal with real violations of their policy, including a picture that portrayed a robed man beheading a police officer that was posted by a Black Panther page , and numerous pages threatening or calling for the execution of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump .
Social media entrepreneur and WTF Magazine owner Jason M. Fyk , who is a part of the #PowerToThePages Facebook censorship awareness group , told Breitbart Tech that Facebook’s purge of pages meant that he had to let go of his former employees and rethink his business steps after they reduced his traffic substantially. He was even sanctioned by the site for posting a picture of Family Guy cartoon star Peter Griffin dancing while holding his digital man-boobs.
“Facebook literally saved my life. I wouldn’t be where I am right now in life and for that I thank Mark Zuckerberg directly, but don’t take away freedom of thought and expression,” said Fyk to Breitbart Tech. “Facebook has become something far more than just a business. People’s lives are effected by it. It supports single parents and gives some people outlets to express who they are. You’re hurting family’s both those that post and those that view our content. Please reconsider your stance on content because Facebook is important to all of us.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.
