26 May Facebook Says Suspending User Over Pro-LGBT Image Was “A Mistake”
Facebook has said that it mistakenly suspended an Italian woman’s account over a pro-LGBT rights image.
28-year-old Carlotta Trevisan’s account was suspended after she posted the image, above, to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia on Saturday.
The Independent reports that Trevisan says several other users complained about the image, a piece of stock imagery widely used by gay rights activists, with one calling the picture “disgusting”.
Trevisan told La Stampa that she was later contacted by Facebook and asked to remove the image. When she refused, her account was shut down.
Trevisan said: “What was the harm with this photo, especially when so many like this can be found on Google? How can one photo provoke such sensitivity?”
Facebook has now acknowledged the error, which they say was based on a report recieved from another user, and Trevisan’s account has been restored.
A Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed:
In an effort to quickly and efficiently process reports we receive, our community operations team reviews many reports every week, and as you might expect, occasionally, we make a mistake and block a piece of content we shouldn’t have. We can understand how people can be frustrated with this when, as in this case, a mistake happens.
Source: Buzzfeed