Facebook is at it again, disabling the accounts of responsible users who post photos that Facebook deems inappropriate. While Playboy is able to maintain it's overtly sexual fanpage of nearly 4 million users, Facebook has taken down the account of Laura Steele Eckert, who is a birth and maternity photographer in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area.
Facebook sent Eckert the following email on December 22, 2010: "Hello, You uploaded a photo that violates our Terms of Use, and this photo has been removed. Facebook does not allow photos that attack an individual or group, or that contain nudity, drug use, violence, or other violations of the Terms of Use. These policies are designed to ensure Facebook remains a safe, secure and trusted environment for all users, including the many children who use the site." She was surprised by the email, since all photos she's posted were discretely cropped specifically to meet Facebook guidelines, but when she tried to log into her account to see which photo had raised eyebrows, she was informed that her account was disabled. Eckert has sent numerous emails to several customer service addresses at Facebook and has received no response.
It's not just Eckert's personal profile that has been disabled. Gone also are her business page, New Creation Photography & Design with over 600 "likers", and a community interest page she founded called "Birth Photography". The abrupt disappearance left customers wondering what had happened. One customer, Leslie Kung, started the "Restore Laura Eckert's Account" page (http://www.facebook.com/restorelauraeckert )on Facebook, which now has over 1,100 fans.
In another example that illustrates Facebook's double standard, a popular support page for breastfeeding mothers, The Leaky B@@b, has also been disabled. A group supporting TLB (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-back-The-Leaky-Boob/185706648121870) has grown to nearly 8,000 likers since it was disabled just two days ago, all wondering why a positive breastfeeding support group can be banned from Facebook while clearly pornographic sites are allowed to remain. Hundreds of pages on Facebook have titles and descriptions that are too vulgar to be mentioned here.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says, "Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected." Really? Shutting down sites of maternity photographers and support groups helps to connect people? Zuckerberg is going to have a lot of explaining to do to breastfeeding supporters and other users who are sick of Facebook's discrimination and unsensible censoring.
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