End to nipple censorship. Will the rules of use on social networks change?

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The nipple taboo at

the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is like a loosely woven rope whose strands keep unraveling.

If the rules are clear and the citizen consents when signing up for these platforms, why then are users always fighting because of their conditions?

The controversy arose from the discriminatory treatment of women, since the prohibition falls exclusively on their nipples and not on those of men.

The confusion has increased as its users have tried to circumvent the censorship with images that made it clear that their usage policy

And the other genres?

have entered the fray.

It's clear that something is going wrong for Meta to have listened to her Content Advisory Council's warning about the need to redefine her nudity policy.

A flaw in the algorithm led to the removal of two Facebook posts, in 2021 and 2022, from a trans person and a non-binary person.

In the images, the couple posed topless, but with their nipples covered, and explained in a post trans healthcare and the need to raise funds for top surgery.

The platform readmitted its publication, but the issue was already hot on social networks, especially by groups of the LGBTQ+ community, who see at the root of all this "the binary vision of gender and the patriarchal distinction between male and female bodies." feminine".

This is also the opinion of Julie Owono, director of the NGO Internet without borders and member of this supervisory board, made up of 22 academics, journalists and human rights defenders who operate independently.

There is, in her opinion, a

"in the application of the rules to intersex, non-binary and trans people."

Another of its members,

has stated that it is urgent to assess why the only non-sexualized nipples are those of the male or the mastectomized ones.

Meta will publicly respond to her proposal in mid-March.

In any case, the recommendation is not binding, so there is maximum expectation to see if it modifies its conditions of use or not.

It is not the first time that this council asks you to "be sensitive to the impact of your policies on people subject to discrimination" and it would not be the first time that the company reacts positively.

In 2022, Instagram

on the issue of identity by expanding the options to choose the user's pronoun: he/him, she/her and they/them, up to a maximum of four.

Problems with the algorithm

As for nudity, what exactly does the rule say?

Until now, it prohibits the publication of images that show female nipples, except when there is an artistic motive or the content is related to health (post-mastectomy images or breast cancer awareness), lactation or sex change surgeries.

The problem is, as the council has detected, that the algorithm used often acts

in its way of evaluating nudity".

View this post on Instagram

Instagram continually receives accusations of prudishness and lack of objectivity from citizens.

During these years of censorship, women have not stopped circumventing the norm, giving free rein to their creativity.

One of the most active fronts has been

which also protests against the ban on showing the chest in public spaces.

Numerous familiar faces have joined him, such as Soko, Cara Delevingne, Miley Cyrus or Naomi Campbell.

The latter formalized her entry into the movement with a topless image in September 2015 that did not last even 24 hours.

She finally put it back up again, this time with a heart emoji covering the nipple.

celebrities against

Madonna

has challenged the platform several times.

"It amazes me that we live in a culture that allows every inch of the female body to be shown, except for the nipple. As if it were the only part of a woman's anatomy that can be sexualized," she wrote on her Instagram account after they were removed. , "without prior notice or notification", some suggestive photos.

She also remembered that the masculine can also be erotic.

fueled the debate in August 2021 with the poster for his film 'Parallel Mothers', illustrated with a nipple from which he dangled a drop of milk.

Instagram withdrew the images and, once again, rectified after assessing their artistic context.

View this post on Instagram

A couple of months later, some streets of Paris woke up with the walls covered with posters with nipples and breastfeeding women in response to the censorship that the nursing clothing firm

had just suffered for a photograph of a breastfeeding breast.

The brand has seen its defense of the right to breastfeed anywhere and anytime compromised due to the algorithm that interrupts any attempt to give live visibility to its message, despite the fact that photos of nursing mothers are allowed in the conditions of use .

Britney Spears also supported

although hers actually hid a

the support movement in which the singer was facing the trial for which she wanted to finally get rid of, after 13 years and at almost 40,

View this post on Instagram

Wouldn't it be easier to free all the nipples?

Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, justified the censorship of bare breasts in Apple's policy, which imposes its own moral rules on its applications and, therefore, could be removed from the Apple Store if it violates them.

Beyond this explanation, Instagram does not allow photos, videos or any other digital content that shows genital organs, completely naked buttocks or sexual intercourse.

"We show

with those who share sexual content related to minors or who threaten to publish intimate images of other users. It is not allowed under any circumstances to share graphic images of sadistic practices or that glorify violence," they add.

Its policy is expanded with other community rules that are intended to ensure that they

against "harmful content and new types of abuse."

Hence the decision to eliminate anything that could be offensive, language that incites hate, bullying, harassment and misinformation.

Alizée Cauvin-l'Heureux, photographer and co-founder of the feminist collective NousToutes 974, clarifies that censorship of the chest is something else.

"Allowing nipples to be displayed on social media

she has stated.

Are they reasonable limits or do they violate freedom of expression?

She will debate in the coming weeks and decide if she expands the rule or relies on her moderation algorithm, unable to distinguish a topless from a pornographic image, so as not to alter her policy.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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