Facebook Censors Art School Nudes [Facebook Takes Down Nude Paintings & Drawings, But Returns Them Online After Clarification; Has Facebook Established Itself as Curator of Online Culture?]

Posted on TFTS by J. Angelo Racoma on Monday, 21. February 2011 under: Social Tech

Facebook is certainly a force to contend with. Recently the New York Academy of Art found itself on Facebook’s naughty list when the social network banned its photos for ToS violations. Is Facebook gearing itself to be curator of online culture?

The NY Academy of Art is a graduate university that has been teaching figurative art for three decades. By figurative art, we figure it’s all about the human figure and artistic renditions thereof. While Facebook’s terms of use prohibits nudity, do artistic renditions fall under this ruling?

Facebook earlier removed images of a pen-and-ink nude from the NY Academy of Art’s Facebook profile. When the school administrators sought clarification, the photos were quickly reinstated. A Facebook rep clarified that while their ToS bans nude photos, representations like drawings, sculptures or paintings are excluded.

However, is this special case because of the photo owner’s prestige? It’s been reported that lesser-known artists find their works being banned all the time because of nudity.

And so, the New York Academy of Art asks, “How is Facebook controlling art?”

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