Facebook reverses decision to remove iconic Vietnam photo

 

 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facing a backlash in Norway over its decision to delete an historic Vietnam War image for violating its rules on nudity, the social media giant agreed Friday to allow the photo of a naked girl fleeing in agony from a napalm attack to be posted.
“Because of its status as an iconic image of historical importance, the value of permitting sharing outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal, so we have decided to reinstate the image on Facebook where we are aware it has been removed,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg earlier faced a barrage of dislikes from Norway, where the prime minister and the top newspaper’s editor blasted the social network for deleting the image for violating its rules on nudity.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg defied Facebook by posting the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1972 photograph of the burning girl.
She protested that social media must differentiate between child pornography and historically significant images.
“What they do by removing this kind of image is to edit our common history,” Solberg, who posted the image in the name of freedom of expression, told the Associated Press.
The photograph, called “The Terror of War,” of 9-year-old Kim Phúc surrounded by other screaming children was taken by Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut Cong Huynh for the AP.

South Vietnamese forces follow terrified children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc (center), as they run down Route 1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places on June 8, 1972

Solberg reposted the photo — adding a black box covering the girl from the thighs up — along with other famous images, including the “Tank Man” in China’s Tiananmen Square. Politicians and regular Norwegians shared the Vietnam photo in solidarity.
Espen Egil Hansen, editor of Aftenposten, accused Zuckerberg of “abusing your power” as the “world’s most powerful editor” for censoring the image.
“I am upset, disappointed — well, in fact even afraid — of what you are about to do to a mainstay of our democratic society,” Hansen wrote in a front-page letter for Norway’s largest newspaper, which published the image Friday.
“I am worried that the world’s most important medium is limiting freedom instead of trying to extend it, and that this occasionally happens in an authoritarian way,” he added.
Facebook said it would adjust its review mechanism to allow the photograph to be shared.

Aftenposten’s editor-in-chief and CEO Espen Egil Hansen

“It will take some time to adjust these systems but the photo should be available for sharing in the coming days,” the spokesperson said.
“We are always looking to improve our policies to make sure they both promote free expression and keep our community safe, and we will be engaging with publishers and other members of our global community on these important questions going forward.”
The brouhaha broke out when Norwegian writer Tom Egeland posted photos on Facebook depicting scenes from the Vietnam War — including what Hansen described as one of the “world’s most famous war photographs.”
Before being suspended by Facebook, Egeland discussed “seven photographs that changed the history of warfare” — a group that included the “napalm girl.”
Aftenposten reported about the suspension in an article and published the same image, which also was shared on the publication’s Facebook page.
The social media giant reacted by ordering Aftenposten to “either remove or pixelize” the photograph.
“Any photographs of people displaying fully nude genitalia or buttocks, or fully nude female breast, will be removed,” Facebook said before itself deleting the article and image.
In his open letter to Zuckerberg before the company relented, a defiant Hansen said he would not comply with Facebook’s missive.

“Listen, Mark, this is serious. First you create rules that don’t distinguish between child pornography and famous war photographs. Then you practice these rules without allowing space for good judgement,” Hansen wrote. “Finally you even censor criticism against and a discussion about the decision — and you punish the person who dares to voice criticism.”
Hansen noted that Facebook “has become a world-leading platform for spreading information, for debate and for social contact between persons” — and that Zuckerberg is “the world’s most powerful editor.”
“Even though I am editor-in-chief of Norway’s largest newspaper, I have to realize that you are restricting my room for exercising my editorial responsibility,” he continued. “This is what you and your subordinates are doing in this case. I think you are abusing your power, and I find it hard to believe that you have thought it through thoroughly.”
Paul Colford, the AP’s vice president and director of media relations, said: “The Associated Press is proud of Nick Ut’s photo and recognizes its historical impact. In addition, we reserve our rights to this powerful image.”

This is not the first time Facebook has been accused of censorship.
It faces a trial in France, where a schoolteacher said it blocked his account after he posted a photo of a painting by Gustave Courbet that shows a woman’s genitals.
A Danish lawmaker also complained this year that Facebook yanked her picture of Copenhagen’s famous Little Mermaid statue because of its nudity rules.
Germany’s justice minister weighed in on the flap Friday.
“Illegal content should vanish from the internet — not photos that move the whole world,” Heiko Maas said.