DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Facebook thinks Irving Penn’s work is pornography, censors it for nudity

Sep 10, 2018 by Dunja Djudjic 5 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Facebook has had some pretty weird cases of censoring works of art before. This time, photos taken by iconic photographer Irving Penn were censored because, basically, Facebook thinks they’re porn. Photographer Cliff Cheng shared some of Penn’s portraits of tribes on the verge of extinction, and Facebook deleted them in a matter of minutes due to “nudity or sexuality activity.” And after two reviews, the social network still sees the photos as inappropriate.

Cheng visited Penn’s World’s in a Small Room Exhibition at Fahey-Klein Gallery in L.A. In Penn’s images that were displayed, he used natural light from a window to document cultures on the verge of extinction. Cheng felt inspired by Penn’s work, so when he got home, he made a Facebook post of Penn’s portraits. Two of them had women with bare breasts, and Facebook removed the post in a matter of minutes. The reasoning behind this is that it “violated the community standards that do not permit nudity or sexual activity.”

After having the post deleted, Cheng asked for a review. The review said the same thing – “community standards have been violated.” Then the photographer asked for a second review, and once again, the reply was the same. Apparently, Irving Penn’s photos have nothing to do on Facebook.

Perhaps you remember when Facebook censored Nick Ut’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo Napalm Girl. Cheng was one of the people who protested in this case. He explains that this image is “documenting of the horrors of war” and that is “one of the most important photographs in history.” He adds that it “helped change American public opinion from being for to being against the war in Vietnam.” And Facebook didn’t comprehend this until a protest was launched.

There were some other ridiculous cases of censorship on Facebook. There was the time when a photo of a 30,000-year-old statue of a naked woman was deleted. Recently, Facebook also deleted images of Peter Paul Rubens’ nude paintings. And just like in those cases, the point of Penn’s images weren’t nudity, porn or anything like it.

As Cheng writes, Penn was documenting cultures which were being extinct as the modern world encroached upon them. “Judging these extinct cultures by 2018 standards is disrespectful to other peoples’ cultures, it is Eurocentric,” he writes. Cheng also wonders why men are allowed to be bare-chested on Facebook, while women are not. Personally, I believe many people have wondered the same thing. There was even a movement on Instagram a few years back where people added photos of men’s nipples onto women’s breasts because bare-chested males aren’t censored on this social network, while the females are.

Now, I do understand that Facebook determines what’s in your images with the help of AI. And artificial intelligence is still artificial. But, after a human reviewing the photos, the post was still considered inappropriate. Here’s an excerpt from Facebook’s Community Standards on nudity:

“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.”

Judging from Facebook’s Community Standards, you can post photos of art that contains nudity. But you can’t post photos of people who are nude, even if those photos were taken by a famous photographer and are a work of art on their own. I wonder, though, if the outcome would be different if Cheng took photos of those images at the exhibition. Then they would be “photographs of art that depicts nude figures,” so I guess they would meet the community standards. No matter how absurd that is.

What do you think of this case? Should photos taken by famous photographers be an exception to the rule? Or they should also follow under Facebook’s community standards and be removed if they contain nudity?

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Facebook censors images of two ancient Roman statues for nudity Facebook censors images of Rubens nude paintings Facebook to reconsider its nudity policy after photographers’ outcry Facebook now censors photos for depicting body in ‘undesirable manner’ even when promoting feminist agenda

Filed Under: news Tagged With: censor, censorship, facebook, Irving Penn, social media, social network

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Sony’s new 31MP APS-C sensor has a global shutter and might come with the A6700/A7000
The Cosyspeed Phoneslinger is modular bag system for smartphone photographers »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Ace your next portrait shoot with these composition tips
  • This is how to get photography clients on Instagram – even with few followers
  • “I prefer using smaller cameras” – an unorthodox take on size
  • A pigeon scares a meteorologist as it photobombs a live camera
  • Photographer files lawsuit against NFL receiver and teams after shoving incident

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy