360Photography

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has announced that Facebook will ‘reconsider’ its policies related to ‘artistic nudity’ following a large nude photo shoot that took place in front of the company’s NYC headquarters. In April, the NCAC launched the #WeTheNipple campaign that called out Facebook and Instagram over its nudity policies.

‘Social media has dramatically increased artists’ ability to reach–and build–their audiences,’ the NCAC said as part of its campaign. ‘Unless their medium is photography and their subject is the body.’

On its current policy page detailing the subject matter, Facebook states, ‘Our nudity policies have become more nuanced over time.’ In providing an example of this ‘more nuanced’ approach, the company explains:

For example, while we restrict some images of female breasts that include the nipple, we allow other images, including those depicting acts of protest, women actively engaged in breast-feeding, and photos of post-mastectomy scarring. We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures.

At this time, Facebook explicitly bans images that feature ‘real nude adults’ across a variety of categories. An exception is made for images that feature nude figures in ‘paintings, sculptures, and other art,’ but critics point out that the social network has repeatedly removed artistic images depicting nudity in the past.

On June 2, American photographer Spencer Tunick, who has a long history of organizing large nude photo shoots, captured artistic images of 125 people posed nude in front of Facebook’s New York City headquarters. The images, which have been shared on Instagram (probably NSFW), feature nude participants using ‘male nipple stickers’ and prints to cover the parts of their bodies prohibited from display by Facebook’s nudity policy.

According to NCAC, Facebook’s policy team will convene a group of its employees and stakeholders, among them being artists, museum curators, and activists, and explore ‘how to better serve’ the artists on its platform. The NCAC says it will be collaborating with Facebook on convening this group in order to make sure its policy ‘is well-formed by external experts and perspectives.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)