A Facebook group which posts daily pictures of men to gay subscribers has been partly restricted by the social networking site over claims of indecency.
L'Homme du Jour, which has almost 5,000 members, today had administrative access blocked for three days because they posted the image you can see here in this story.
The picture, by photographer Antonio Bezerra, may have been blocked by the site's automated system because it has hints of pubic hair on display, although this has not been confirmed.
The restrictions mean that the group's creator, Ray Clark, currently cannot upload any other images or interact with users.
However, the page is still active and can be accessed by subscribers. They can also still view all other previously-uploaded (and approved) images.
Speaking to PinkPaper.com, Clark says he has been left perplexed by the move. He told us: "We never post any nudity or porn... we upload mainly models from around the world. Any images which do contravene (even slightly) Facebook's community standards we cover with a 'Censored' label and this seems to be OK."
He added: "We don't think this contravenes Facebook's community standards."
Facebook claim to have a strict "no nudity or pornography" policy.
We contacted the press office at Facebook to ask why the image had been flagged as inappropriate.
They implied that the same rules apply in equal measure to all uploaded content.
"We can confirm that the content was removed because it broke Facebook's rules as set out in our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities: www.facebook.com/terms.php," they told us.
Previously, in a separate issue, Facebook have been criticised for not responding quickly enough to anti-gay content.
In October 2011, we reported that a page on the social networking site encouraged the persecution of gay people in Jamaica. The page – entitled Bun Batty Man, Str8 Pumz Mi seh – only had
forty-four 'likes', but its content was explicitly homophobic
and regularly updated.
Featuring an icon of two men with a red line through it, other images on
the site include a screen-grab of a conversation between two men, the
Stonewall poster 'Some People Are Gay. Get Over It' and a graphic
photograph of a defenseless man being beaten by a gang of women.
The group - which has since been taken down – was allowed to be created and function before it was closed.
Although Facebook do not permit pages or groups which promote hatred or violence, the system is often reliant on fellow users flagging up such
content.
Photo:
© DIDIOPHOTO.
