‘Meta’ may allow postings with nude female nipples

According to The Telegraph, on January 17, Meta’s supervisory board of politicians, academics and journalists called for changes to the company’s content moderation policy and standards for determining when human nudity is considered sexual activity. It is also invited to set criteria for respecting international human rights.

This decision came after Facebook censored two posts by an American couple, one being transgender and the other a non-binary person. In the post, the couple was seen with their breasts bare, but their nipples covered. The purpose of this post was to explain transgender health and raise funds for surgery.

The post received a number of complaints and was removed, but was later reinstated after the couple reached “Met”.

Watchdog stressed that current privacy policies are based on a dual view of gender that excludes non-binary and transgender people and sharply separates male and female bodies. Therefore, “Meta” is invited to set clear, objective and human rights-respecting criteria for content moderation on nudity.

It is stated that there has been an activist movement for more than 10 years trying to emphasize that naked female nipples are not a sexual phenomenon, and in 2013 the “FreeTheNipple” movement became popular around the world. The campaign enjoyed widespread support and endorsed by celebrities such as Rihanna and Miley Cyrus.

Actress Florence Pugh said last week that she doesn’t want to offend people, but it’s unclear how female nipples can be so offensive.

Artist Mikola Hebron, who has been talking about gender discrimination in “Meta” since 2015, states that the decision taken by the “Meta” supervisory board is a step taken to end discrimination. “This is not just a call to allow women’s breasts to be exposed. It’s important that we allow all bodies to be autonomous. It’s funny how so many people talk about women’s nipples, but all over the world it’s about putting pressure on women and other human bodies.” that’s not true,” said Hebron. “Meta” must respond to the supervisory board’s decision within 60 days.

The biggest problem right now is that the content moderator will have too many questions,

At what point will the image of a woman with open breasts be considered normal and at what point will it be considered over-sexualized?

Everything is determined by context, and automated algorithms don’t understand context. The main question is how “Meta” will create new rules without opening the door to an uncontrolled stream of pornography.

“That’s why these rules exist. I doubt automated moderation systems will remove it. It’s possible, but I doubt it will work,” said Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism.

On the other hand, Gillian York, director of the international freedom of expression organization “Electronic Frontier Foundation”, states that the rule change will cause significant problems for companies such as “Meta”, which uses artificial intelligence to monitor content. “Determining whether an image represents a topless woman or an underage girl will not be an easy task for automated technologies.

AI can tell the difference between a 26-year-old woman and a nine-year-old girl, but what about 17- and 18-year-olds?” asks York.

“Meta” suggested relaxing the rules, thus allowing more freedom of expression. However, it should be taken into account that it may have negative consequences, for example, for people who are minorities in the society.