Facebook flags photo representing Darwin’s evolution as 'adult content'

A story depicting Charles Darwin's theory of evolution contains a photo illustration of the modern man evolving from apes. Can the photo really be flagged as "adult content"?

Whereas, the story, which was published on The Business Standard on Saturday, was specifically about a fictional conversation between a father and a son about the origin of humans.

Though the photo was used for representational purposes, Facebook flagged the photo as "adult content" when it was boosted for advertisement.

The content was later allowed to be advertised on the social media platform after applying for a review but that is a tedious process and Facebook often does not give an option of reviewing, rather deletes the content altogether.

Community guidelines, such as the policies for "adult content" and for "nudity and sexual activity," are often flagging photographs that would not be considered objectionable to the common man and provide context to important events.

Censorship might be necessary in extreme cases, in cases where social security is in question. Content inciting violence or promoting barbaric practices must be controlled.

However, the system adopted for this censorship requires more moderation. Facebook has adopted an artificial intelligence AI-run screening system which often flags words, photos and sound clips based on a set of pre-formulated list of objectionable contents.

What the bots lack is the human ability of comprehend content taking the context into account. Something that may seem vulgar or questionable at first glance, might become acceptable and oftentimes indespensable upon understanding the context.

Censorship in the name of upholding community guidelines is creating an impediment in telling real life stories and documentation of history.

News media is bearing the brunt of this flawed system of censoring content.

In 2016, one of the world's most famous war photographs, the "napalm girl," when published on the Facebook page of Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten, was removed by the social media platform.

Espen Egil Hansen, the editor-in-chief of the Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten, later wrote an elaborate letter to Facebook explaining why such censorship can be problematic for the free flow of information.

The editor-in-chief wrote, "…The napalm-girl is by far the most iconic documentary photography from the Vietnam war. The media played a decisive role in reporting different stories about the war than the men in charge wanted them to publish. They brought about a change of attitude which played a role in ending the war. They contributed to a more open, more critical debate. This is how a democracy must function."

"The free and independent media have an important task in bringing information, even including pictures, which sometimes may be unpleasant, and which the ruling elite and maybe even ordinary citizens cannot bear to see or hear, but which might be important precisely for that reason."

Few of the guidelines that might be problematic at times

Adult content:

Ads must not contain adult content. This includes nudity, depictions of people in explicit or suggestive positions, or activities that are overly suggestive or sexually provocative.

Ads that assert or imply the ability to meet someone, connect with them or view content created by them must not be positioned in a sexual way or with an intent to sexualise the person featured in the ad.

Nudity and sexual activity: Publisher and Creator Guidelines:

Facebook restricts the display of nudity and sexual activity because some audiences within our global community may be sensitive to this type of content, particularly because of their cultural background or age. However, people sometimes share content containing nudity for purposes such as awareness campaigns or artistic projects.