Facebook vs. Museums

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In 2013, Facebook blocked the Elephant magazine page for publishing the 1932 Art Deco painting Adam and Eve by Polish artist Tamara Lempicka. Along with the magazine page, the social network also blocked the accounts of 20 group administrators who ran it on a voluntary basis. After the magazine's management contacted the social network, access to the page and all accounts was restored.


In 2012, the social network administration removed a photo norway mobile phone numbers database of Gerhard Richter's painting "Emma" from the Pompidou Center page. Before this happened, the publication had garnered 1,300 likes. It depicts a naked woman. After a complaint from the Pompidou Center, the publication was restored. Facebook apologized for the blocking and explained that the social network's monitoring system had taken the painting for an unprofessional photo.



In 2013, Facebook blocked a partially nude photo of a woman from 1940 by photographer Laura Albin-Guillot from the National Gallery of the Jeu de Paume page. The social network had previously removed nudes from the museum's account twice — photos by Willy Ronis and Manuel Alvarez Bravo. Fearing a complete block, the page's administrators decided not to publish the nudes anymore. The museum posted an edited photo of Laura Albin-Guillot — with a black rectangle where her breasts should be.



Facebook vs. Media and Users
But it’s the media pages that get the brunt of Facebook’s abuse the most. In 2013, The Daily Beast reported that a nude portrait of actress Bea Arthur by John Currin had sold at auction for $1.9 million.



The publication illustrated the news with a photo of the painting. The publication gained thousands of reposts, and a couple of hours later, The Daily Beast's Facebook page was blocked. As were the accounts of its 22 administrators. The social network later apologized for the error and restored access to the painting and accounts.