Facebook Breast Ban Ended by Cancer Case
An outcry from breastfeeding mothers wasn't enough to get Facebook to lift its ban on "exposed breast" earlier this year. But a breast cancer awareness campaign has finally ended the absurdly broad restriction.
Sharon Adams uploaded a picture of her post-mastectomy chest to the social network as part of an effort to encourage women to get regular breast exams. Facebook removed it within a day as "sexual and abusive."
After 900 people joined a Facebook protest group, the company backed down and reinstated the picture (the graphic image is attached to this Daily Mail story).
The site even went so far as to say it was sorry:
Our user operations team reviews thousands of reported photos a day and may occasionally remove something-that doesn't actually violate our policies. This is what happened here. We apologise.
Better than an apology would be for Facebook to finally fix its long-abused content-flagging system, perhaps by hiring enough staff to keep up with the growth in its user base. Or maybe the company just needs a seminar to get its moderators more comfortable with the sight of the female chest.