Facebook blocks 'sexual' cows, office buildings
Occurred: February 2021
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The BBC reports that photographs of wildlife, landscapes and buildings taken by the owner of a digital photo library have been blocked by Facebook for supposedly containing 'overtly sexual' content.
Mike Hall had been trying to use photos on his business page to run ads on Facebook. His images include a cow standing in a field, the England cricket team, and office buildings.
Facebook later admitted the block had been applied in error, though gave no details why and how it had been put in place.
Operator: Meta/Facebook
Developer: Meta/Facebook
Country: UK
Sector: Business/professional services
Purpose: Review advertising
Technology: Advertising management system
Issue: Accuracy/reliability
Transparency: Governance; Black box
News, commentary, analysis
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/19079582.northwall-gallery-winchester-banned-facebook-advertising/
https://wisden.com/stories/facebook-bans-picture-of-england-cricket-huddle-for-being-too-sexy
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14021335/facebook-slammed-cow-sexy/
https://metro.co.uk/2021/02/11/facebook-banned-this-picture-of-cows-for-being-too-sexy-14065563/
Page info
Type: Incident
Published: February 2021