When artist Phil Hansen learned that Facebook was enforcing its ‘no nipples’ rule by removing images of women breastfeeding, he decided to put Facebook to a gender equality test. How? He created a collage made entirely of his own nipples and posted the image as his profile picture.
The result? Facebook either missed Phil Hansen’s image, or were busy hemming and hawing over whether this was any more or less obscene than breastfeeding, because the image remained for a few days before being removed for violating the site’s terms of use.
When it comes to differentiating between the female and the male breast on Facebook, it seems they aren’t having any of it. I suppose that’s tit for tat.
Social Networking Censorship
Fighting Facebook's Curious Nipple Policy
Trend Themes
1. Gender Equality Testing - Creating and posting images to social media with intentional ambiguities as to their level of objectionability, to investigate whether gender biases exist in platform censorship policies.
2. Nipples Taboo Challenge - Encouraging the creation and sharing of art and other images featuring nipples to challenge the taboo against depicting them in western cultures.
3. Decentralized Social Media - Building and promoting platforms that don't rely on centralized governance and moderation, and instead allow users to individually filter out content they don't want to see.
Industry Implications
1. Art - Exploring new and provocative mediums, topics, and methods to express social and political commentary in the form of art that is shareable on social media.
2. E-commerce - Creating and marketing clothing and accessories featuring nipple imagery as a way to encourage dialogue about censorship and body positivity.
3. Technology - Developing and deploying machine learning algorithms to more accurately and consistently identify and remove offensive content on social media platforms, while minimizing false positives and unjust censorship.