Recommendations by Meta's oversight board may lead the social media titans to "free the nipple." Reviewing the case of a ban on images that contained breasts, with the nipples blocked, of a transgender, non-binary couple. In reviewing the ban the oversight committee realized the ban makes no sense and serves little purpose.
"The restrictions and exceptions to the rules on female nipples are extensive and confusing, particularly as they apply to transgender and non-binary people. Exceptions to the policy range from protests, to scenes of childbirth, and medical and health contexts, including top surgery and breast cancer awareness," the release reads, adding that the "convoluted and poorly defined" exceptions make the policy "unworkable in practice."
"Here, the Board finds that Meta's policies on adult nudity result in greater barriers to expression for women, trans, and gender non-binary people on its platforms. For example, they have a severe impact in contexts where women may traditionally go bare-chested, and people who identify as LGBTQI+ can be disproportionately affected, as these cases show," the release states.
The full recommendation asks Meta to perform a "comprehensive human rights impact assessment" and create a plan to address harms identified before defining a "clear, objective, rights-respecting criteria to govern its Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity Community Standard, so that all people are treated in a manner consistent with international human rights standards, without discrimination on the basis of sex or gender."
