Activists took to the streets of New York outside Facebook’s offices, fully nude, to protest the company’s ban on nudity across its platforms.
In protest of Facebook’s banning of nudity across its platform, along with Instagram, naked protestors took to the streets outside the New York offices of the social media giant, according to Business Insider. The protest was part of an art installation featuring dozens of naked models advocating for the #WeTheNipple movement which was organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). Artist Spencer Tunick also photographed the protestors.
Facebook is known for having a strict ban on nudity on its platform, artists are now complaining that this often prevents them from sharing their work on social media. “It particularly harms artists whose work focuses on their own bodies, including queer and gender-nonconforming artists, and the bodies of those in their communities. Museums and galleries are constrained when even promoting exhibitions featuring nudes,” the NCAC stated in a press release.
Members of the women’s rights group Grab Them By The Ballot also took part in the event. Dawn Robertson, the founder of the group, said in a statement before the event:
We are here to empower women around body positivity and encourage female voter turnout in 2020. This isn’t just about shock value and protesting — it’s about reclaiming our bodies. Facebook and Instagram have missed this message entirely as they cling to negligent and blatantly misogynist policies that overlook the context of the artistic nudity being posted.
Robertson claims that Facebook permanently banned the women’s group’s ad account for posting nude paintings along with a poem for Mothers Day, she also claims to have had her own account banned multiple times. Robertson stated that she appealed these bans and Facebook admitted to being “wrong” but she has since been banned again.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com