Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has been tasked with revising its nudity rules, specifically the one that prohibits women from showing bare breasts. A breakthrough for the #FreeTheNipple cause.
“Free the nipple!” The Nipple Liberation Front, which protests against the censorship of bare breasts in the public space and on social media, could have won. And no less. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is set to revise its nudity policy. The group’s governing board specifically opposes it, which bans women from displaying bare breasts and harms the self-expression of women and transgender or non-binary people.
“Meta is requested to look into this matter. We’re saying there should be more equality,” said Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Danish prime minister and member of Meta’s supervisory board, during Instagram’s online conference on Thursday (January 19). “Interestingly, the only non-sexual nipples are male or surgical nipples,” he added.
“Removal of these images is inappropriate”
The social media giant’s “supreme court” recently ruled that Meta should not have removed photos the couple posted showing their breasts covered by nipples. The caption of the said photo raised the issue of transgender health and explained that one in two people will soon have to undergo surgery to have their breasts removed as part of gender reassignment surgery. The couple have been fundraising to help them finance the intervention. “The removal of these images is not in line with Meta’s values or responsibilities to protect human rights,” the supervisory board said on Tuesday. “The company’s adult nudity policy further restricts women, transgender and non-binary people from expressing themselves on their platforms,” the board added.
Let’s remind that the observer board created in 2020 at the suggestion of Mark Zuckerberg consists of twenty international members (journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and former political leaders). It is responsible for evaluating the California group’s content moderation policy.
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Subjective moderation
Meta rules today prohibit images containing female nipples, except in certain health contexts, such as breastfeeding or gender reassignment surgery. “This regulation is based on a binary vision of gender,” the council notes. “This involves moderators quickly and subjectively determining gender and sex, which is unrealistic on a large scale.” To change the situation, she advises Meta’s leadership to establish “clear, objective and respectful human rights standards so that people are treated without sex or gender discrimination in accordance with international human rights standards.”
Instagram is regularly accused by its users of being prudish and unbiased. “Unleash these beauties,” model Helena Christensen wrote Thursday, commenting on a parody video of comedian Celeste Barber rocking her pixelated bare chest.
Sentencing by mid-March
At Instagram’s Board of Supervisors conference on Thursday, users questioned why the Meta doesn’t just “release” “all nipples.” The members of the entity, however, do not comment on this matter for now. “This case shows that Meta’s current rules, which restrict depictions of nipples, are confusing and based on a binary view of gender and the difference between the male and female body,” board member Julie Owono told AFP. : Internet without borders.
Meta, for its part, recalled that the controversial images have already been restored and that the company has already admitted that they should not have been removed. “We know we can do more to support the LGBTQ+ community,” a spokesperson told AFP. The group plans to publicly respond to the board’s recommendations by mid-March.
In August 2021, Instagram apologized after briefly removing posts sharing a poster for a Spanish Pedro Almodóvar film. Madras Parallels, which shows a nipple with a drop of milk hanging from it. They were restored under the name of artistic context.
And in October 2020, the application revised one of its rules regarding breast photos, which forbade them to be “squeezed” to be considered cliché pornographic, under penalty of removal. The plus-size model then accused Instagram of discrimination, and the platform eventually allowed content in which a person hugs or simply grabs her chest.
An ad featuring topless women in the video shows the difficulties of breastfeeding
Source: Le Figaro
