Facebook defines acceptable nudity

By Michael Grothaus

April 24, 2018

The social media giant has released a 25-page tome outlining its policies on policing what is and isn’t allowed on the platform. It’s the first time the company has publicly defined what content it considers in violation of its “community standards.” The new document goes a long way toward defining what it considers bullying, spam, false news, and other objectionable content that could get removed from the site–or get the poster banned.

One such clarification about its community standards is the topic of nudity. Facebook has come under fire in the past for removing breastfeeding pictures as it violated the company’s policy on posting nudity pictures. The new community standard document now explicitly states that breastfeeding pictures–and pictures with certain other types of nudity–are allowed:

Our nudity policies have become more nuanced over time. We understand that nudity can be shared for a variety of reasons, including as a form of protest, to raise awareness about a cause, or for educational or medical reasons. Where such intent is clear, we make allowances for the content. 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.

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