A decade after banning exposed photographs on Facebook, the Meta oversight board has agreed to change its regulation...
Digital Desk: Some people will soon be able to upload bare-chested pics on Facebook and Instagram because of Meta. A decade after banning bare-chested photographs on Facebook, the Meta oversight board has agreed to change its regulation that primarily prohibited bare-breasted images of women.
The prohibition sparked several protests from breastfeeding mothers, who complained that Facebook treats them like pornographers. In 2008, the women demonstrated against Facebook's order outside the company's headquarters.
Meta was urged by the monitoring board to reconsider its decision to prohibit bare-chested photographs of women and trans individuals. The oversight board is made up of academics, lawmakers, and journalists who provide advice to the corporation on content-moderation practices. Meta was advised to update its adult nudity and sexual activity community standard to comply with international human rights norms.
The oversight board asked Meta to define "clear, objective, rights-respecting criteria to govern its Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity Community Standard so that all people are treated in a way compatible with international human rights standards, without discrimination based on sex or gender. Meta should first do a complete human rights impact assessment on such a change, consulting diverse stakeholders, and devise a strategy to mitigate any damages detected".
The review board overruled Meta's decision to ban bare-chested photographs after a transgender and non-binary couple approached the board about Meta's directive.
Reportedly, The couple claimed that between 2021 and 2022, they posted two unique pieces of content on Instagram. Both posts show the couple bare-chested with their nipples covered. The image subtitles discuss transgender healthcare and reveal that one of the duo has gender-affirming surgery. However, after many warnings, Meta removed both postings for breaching the Sexual Solicitation Community Standard, presumably because they contained breasts and a link to a fundraiser page.
According to the board's findings, removing these posts is not following Meta's Community Standards, beliefs, or human rights duties. These instances also show basic flaws in Meta's policies.
"Meta must be mindful of how its rules affect persons who face discrimination. The Board concludes that Meta's prohibitions on adult nudity create additional barriers to the expression on its platforms for women, trans, and gender non-binary people. They have a significant influence, for example, in circumstances where women may customarily go bare-chested, and those who identify as LGBTQI+ can be disproportionately affected, as these incidents demonstrate. "Even though the content did not violate Meta's regulations, Meta's automatic systems identified it many times," the board said in its report.
The board has now instructed Meta to improve its strategy for managing nudity on its platform by setting explicit standards.
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