Violating Community Standards

 It has been a while since I have posted here. Mostly, I try to just post my stuff on FB and get off as quickly as possible.

The last week, I have received two concerning notifications from Facebook, so I wanted to document them. Many have commented that FB is taking down numerous pages at this time.

Both were warnings about photos I had shared to The Girl God page about 3 years ago, so I am unsure why they were tagged now.

People continue to ask what I posted, so I will share that here.

This is the most recent notice:

I did not screen shot the first one, but remember that it was this photo from Sally Mann.

I will be more careful to document going forward. 

I have not looked personally for disturbing content on FB for quite some time, but many people continue to tell me that it is still readily found. 

Facebook is Blocking Kashmiri Activists, including long-time Human Rights Activist Mary Scully

Long-time Feminist and Human Rights Activist Mary Scully has now also been banned for 3 days. Mary's article about Kashmir was removed and she has been blocked from accessing her account for 3 days.

"Shamefully, Facebook is hand in glove with the Indian authorities and is blocking accounts of activists across the world who dare to speak out about common Kashmiri or the ongoing brutalities on civilians by the state machinery. In the garb of so called community standards, it doesn't give a damn about moral standards or human rights or war crimes." -Mudasir Firdosi

You can sign the petition to reinstate Mary's account here.

Read Mary's censored piece on her blog.

Facebook "Community Standards"

via Charlie Rae

via Charlie Rae

via Charlie Rae

Dear Black Folks - Solidarity with The Body is Not an Apology and Son of Baldwin pages after Facebook censorship

The Body is Not an Apology had this viral post removed from Facebook.

"Two days ago The Body Is Not an Apology shared the image below, affirming the safety and love of Black people. Two million people saw it. 185,000 people liked it and 25 thousand people shared it. Today it was removed from our page and removed from 25 THOUSAND people's pages. We want to know why telling Black people they deserve love and safety is a violation of ANYONE'S Community Standards. We will repost this image EVERY TIME Facebook takes it down until they explain what we are violating! Please help us get this image back. Share Widely and ask Mark Zuckerberg why!"

Son of Baldwin has also had similarly titled content removed from Facebook.

Per the page, "Facebook removed the "Dear Black Folk" post because many racists with hurt feelings apparently mass reported it.

They have also banned my personal account from posting for 30 days."

A fan of the page recreated the post here.

Apparently The Kinfolk Kollective, a page on Facebook for black activism, for radical black thought, was also recently taken down entirely from Facebook.  There is Change.org petition - please sign and share.

Nipple Bans

"Artist Micol Hebron is once again barred from Facebook for nipple images. I'm posting this, which she created a while ago, in solidarity. Lots of people think "free the nipple" ideas are trivial or all about sexualization, but bans like this are serious because they shut down multiple ways women object to status quo representations. Women's political and artistic speech is suppressed while objectifying imagery gets a pass and is promoted. Social media company policies, like many city statutes and public ordinances, privilege male-dominant heterosexuality, conflate women’s bodies with indecency and sex (considered a bad thing) and insist that those bodies (and sex) be held in reserve, distributed and consumed according to patriarchal rules.

Many people, seem confounded by expressions of female nudity that are not sexual — because, of course, isn’t male titillation the whole point of women’s nudity? The real question about female nudity isn’t why anyone would want to show or see women’s breasts if they’re not titillating. The real question is about who has the right to say what they’re for, where and when they can be seen and by whom. It is hardly alone, either, in hiding women's toplessness when news of protests or artistic commentary include pictures, etc. The concern on platforms like this one is that pornography will flood the site, a huge moderation expense. Facebook manages context and nuance when it comes to other areas of concern however, and has made positive changes to allow breastfeeding and post mastectomy images. As it is though "good women" whose photos can be seen are those who have suffered or are making their bodies useful for babies."

via Soraya Chemaly

The owner of the Bare Reality page is also banned for 30 days again for posting a photo of her book cover from Amazon.

Girl God Founder Trista Hendren banned from Facebook (again) for birth photo

This birth painting by Lucy Peirce was NOT banned by FB but was shared here so that people could share this post without being banned by Fb as well.

I was asked recently by the Online Hate Prevention Institute to issue my comments after another teen girl attempted suicide after extensive Facebook bullying.

Facebook is notorious for censoring women’s non-sexualized bodies in everyday use. If empowering images of women’s bodies can be meticulously pulled down in the name of “Community Standards”, there is no reason in the world that Facebook cannot better monitor the use of their site to bully children. Mark Zuckerberg wrote a rather public birth announcement for his daughter Max last year: 

“Max, we love you and feel a great responsibility to leave the world a better place for you and all children. We wish you a life filled with the same love, hope and joy you give us. We can’t wait to see what you bring to this world.” It is time for him to put his money where his mouth is. Our children’s lives depend on it.

Read my full statement and the story that led up to it here.

After posting my commentary, my scheduled posts stopped worked for several days on Facebook.  When I reported this to Facebook, they eventually fixed it, but then I was notified the next day that I had been banned for 3 days for the following birth post.

 “This was motherhood without mystification, maternity ‘without its make up on’, a movement that has alternatively been praised and criticised by the medical community, feminists and politicians for its insistence upon the primacy of the mother figure in a child’s life and of the child in the mother’s life” … it is “part and parcel of the feminist movement, and is based on the premise that if a woman is to be strong, she must take responsibility for her childbearing and child-rearing functions herself rather than remain dependent upon male authorities for guidance” -Nancy Rubin, The Mother Mirror

Photo via Positive Birth Movement

I am not sure why this suddenly violates Facebook's "community standards" as I have posted this same photo multiple times for well over a year, including here and here.

Facebook's ban is an annoying waste of my time; however they have made my point for me, again. I have said this many times, but females need another social network.

I have appealed Facebook's decision but have not heard back. Meanwhile, Facebook is filled with pages about incest and other disgusting pages.

Facebook censors cartoon critical of Israel via Mondoweiss

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"The Palestine Information Center (PIC), an independent Palestinian news website and network had their Facebook page temporarily suspended for publishing a 2009 cartoon by Brazilian political cartoonist Carlos Latuff. The graphic shows a woman walking and carrying a wounded child in front of an Israeli flag with one of the blue banners of the flag covering her mouth. Latuff’s text issued a warning:  “SHHHHHHHHHH!!! Denouncing Israeli War Crimes Is Anti-Semitism“.

Rami Salaam, an administrator of PIC’s English Facebook page told Mondoweiss “Cartoons are usually targeted by Facebook more than anything else. Maybe because they appeal to people everywhere. Latuff’s cartoons are widely shared on our page and maybe that is why it was removed.”

PIC was not warned or notified prior to the removal of the cartoon. “It just disappeared” according to Salaam. He continued, “When we tried to login we got a message saying that that cartoon was removed because it violates Facebook polices and that our account that posted the cartoon is suspended for 3 days. – The reason for the deletion and suspension is fickle and meaningless because the cartoon is not graphic nor does it incite any kind of violence. The reason given is “We removed the post below because it doesn’t follow the Facebook Community Standards.” They also threatened to delete the whole page.”

Read the full post by Annie Robbins with screenshots at Mondoweiss