Friday 9 September 2016

Facebook removes iconic Vietnam War photo, restores it after Norwegian PM calls them out

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Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg
Facebook reconsidered its censorship of an iconic photo from the Vietnam War after being called out by Norway's Prime Minister.

The drama started when Facebook removed the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo 'The Terror of War' from Norwegian writer Tom Egeland's feed because it contains child nudity.

Among those who then reposted the image in protest were Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg, only for Facebook to delete the photo from her feed as well.

So, Solberg made a powerful point about censorship by posting 'The Terror of War' and several other iconic wartime photos - with scenes of violence and poignancy censored with black bars.

"While I was on a plane from Oslo to Trondheim, Facebook deleted a post from my Facebook page," Solberg wrote to her followers.

"What Facebook does by removing images of this kind, good as the intentions may be, is to edit our common history. I hope that Facebook uses this opportunity to review its editing policy, and assumes the responsibility a large company that manages a broad communication platform should take.

"I want my children and other children to grow up in a society where history is taught as it was. Where they can learn from historical events and mistakes.

"Today, pictures are such an important element in making an impression, that if you edit past events or people, you change history and you change reality."

Facebook originally defended the deletion by telling the Wall Street Journal that it "is difficult to create a distinction between allowing a photograph of a nude child in one instance and not in others".

However, Facebook reversed course amidst protests by restoring the image on Tom Egeland's feed and promising to re-tabulate its algorithm to take historical images into account.

"After hearing from our community, we looked again at how our Community Standards were applied in this case," a Facebook spokesperson to The Hollywood Reporter. "An image of a naked child would normally be presumed to violate our Community Standards, and in some countries might even qualify as child pornography.
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