Meta, the parent company of the Facebook and Instagram networks, was once again called upon to review its rules on nudity; in particular, the one that prohibits women from showing their breasts so that undermines the ability to express themselves as well as transgender or non-binary people, according to the American group’s watchdog council. “We are asking Meta to investigate this. We say there should be more equality. It is interesting to note that the only nipples that are not sexualized are those of men or those that have undergone surgery”, said Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a former prime minister of Denmark and a member of Meta’s supervisory board, during a conference in line on Instagram last Thursday.
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The social media giant’s “supreme court” recently ruled that Meta should not have removed photos posted by a couple that showed their breasts, with their nipples covered, with a caption mentioning transgender health and explaining that a of the two people would soon undergo surgery for a sex reassignment (removal of the breasts). The couple was raising funds to get the intervention financed. “The removal of these images is not consistent with Meta’s values or its human rights responsibilities”, the oversight board said last Tuesday. “The company’s adult nudity policy more strongly restricts the expression of women, transgender people, and non-binary people on its platforms”, the board added.
The supervisory board is made up of 20 international members, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and former political leaders. This was created in 2020 at the proposal of boss Mark Zuckerberg and is in charge of evaluating the content moderation policy of the Californian group.
Meta’s guidelines prohibit images containing female nipples, except in certain health contexts, such as lactation or gender reassignment surgeries. “This regulation is based on a binary vision of genders”, says the council.
