Breast or elbow? Facebook censors ‘pornographic’ photo

 

Wednesday 28 November 2012 12:03 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

We're always being told that Facebook knows everything there is to know about us, so the social network's latest gaffe may come as something of a surprise. Apparently, the whizzes over at Facebook towers can't tell an arse (or in this case, breast) from an elbow. Moderators removed the above picture on grounds of obscenity, mistaking a nude pair of elbows for exposed breasts.

The Facebook page "Theories of the deep understanding of things" posted the picture to test the site's terms of service, which prohibit the posting of "pornographic" images.

It was taken down shortly afterwards, leading 'Theories' to comment: “FB moderators can’t tell an elbow from a dangerous, filthy, uncanny and violent female breast".

Once Facebook realised their mistake they restored the image and apologised to the poster, a spokesman told Gawker.

But you've got to admit, if ever an elbow looked like a nipple, it's here.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in