Friday, September 9, 2016

Facebook 'Napalm Girl' Censorship


Facebook has removed the iconic image of a girl fleeing a Napalm attack during the Vietnam war from a post, on the grounds of nudity.

The editor of Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Espen Egil Hansenhas, said the entire post, which was about iconic war imagery, was later deleted and the account of the reporter behind it suspended.

Facebook's defense? 

"While we recognise that this photo is iconic, it's difficult to create a distinction between allowing a photograph of a nude child in one instance and not others," Facebook said in a statement.

"We try to find the right balance between enabling people to express themselves while maintaining a safe and respectful experience for our global community. Our solutions won't always be perfect, but we will continue to try to improve our policies and the ways in which we apply them."

-RW

(via the BBC)

3 comments:

  1. "We will continue to try to improve our policies" as long as they continue to protect the State.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "While we recognize this photo is iconic it may remind people of America's shameful past and trigger unhealthy responses such as anger, denial, and self-righteousness. After all exceptional, benevolent America, the greatest country the world has ever known and still going strong doesn't want to be reminded that the photo is not pornographic but of a little girl who's back is burning from a napalm bomb dropped by her American liberators.
    But we have to bullshit ourselves and bullshit you the American people because that's the way we do things now and that's how our government, yours and mine, want it. Sorry…."

    p.s. "To be honest we're just pussies."

    ReplyDelete
  3. FB reversed its position http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37318040

    ReplyDelete