Nearly 85,000 people have joined a Facebook group formed to protest against the networking site banning overly revealing breastfeeding photos from online profiles. -- ST FILE PHOTO
WASHINGTON: Facebook has become the target of protest by more than 80,000 irate mothers, after the social networking website banned overly revealing breastfeeding photographs from online profiles.
A Facebook group entitled 'Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!' has attracted nearly 85,000 members since Tuesday, with hundreds joining every hour.
The organisers of the page, which is hosting a lively debate, said they received more than 10,000 comments. They launched their 'official petition to Facebook' after it pulled profile pictures showing women nursing their babies.
Hundreds of women have had their pictures removed without warning and have been informed that they may be barred from using the site, the London Times reported.
'The pictures have been reported as 'obscene' and have been removed... We're wondering: What about a baby breastfeeding is obscene? Especially in comparison to many other pictures posted all over Facebook that really are obscene,' the group's organisers said.
Facebook, which has more than 120 million members, said there was no ban on breastfeeding pictures but it did have a policy on how much of a woman's breast can be revealed similar to that of United States newspapers and other media outlets.
According to Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt, photos of a fully exposed breast (defined by showing the nipple or areola) violate Facebook rules and may be removed.
'We take no action on the vast majority of breastfeeding photos because they follow the site's terms of use,' Mr Schnitt said, but added that some photos were removed to ensure the site remains safe for all users, including children.
Last Saturday, the Facebook breastfeeding group staged a virtual protest online, called the Mothers International Lactation Campaign, where more than 11,000 angry supporters posted for a day a profile picture of a mother breastfeeding and changed their Facebook status to say 'Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!'
Real-life mothers also held a 'nurse-in' outside Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto, California the same day, the Palo Alto Daily News reported, where a handful of activists attended the protest, singing songs, displaying signs and breastfeeding their children.
