Update: Tuesday, Jan 31, 10:30 a.m. MT
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We continue to receive daily reports of photo deletions and account suspensions. Did it happen to you or someone you know? Please come to the FB! Stop Harassing... page and fill out the survey. It will only take a few minutes and you will be able to tell Facebook how you feel about what happened to you, and what you think they should do to fix the problem.
Dublin is one of Facebook offices where the actual image assessment and deleting decisions are made. The "influential mom demographic" in Dublin will be protesting on Feb 6th.
Check out the coverage in the Dublin Journal this morning:
File photoImage: Yui Mok/PA Archive/Press Association ImagesFACEBOOK OFFICES IN Dublin and several other cities are to be the focus of protests next week by groups speaking out against the removal of breastfeeding photographs from the social networking site.Group organisers say that protests will be held across the world on 6 February over Facebook’s removal 0f photographs of breastfeeding from the site – as well as the suspension of some accounts where such images are posted....
And the moms of Minot were on the NBC affiliate, KMOT, to talk about the issue last night:
A local mother is speaking out after the social networking site Facebook removed pictures of her breast feeding her child. Minot mother Desirae Dubisky said the incident is offensive and has decided to fight back by re-posting the photos in hopes of bringing light to a growing issue.Dubisky posted the photographs of a discrete nursing session with her one year baby boy to commemorate his birthday."It’s something I’m proud of and I want to share it with family and friends," she said.But, Facebook removed the photos, flagging them as inappropriate and banned her page for almost two days."Like what I was doing should be considered shameful when it’s not."...
What are you doing February 6th? Attend a nurse-in. There are events in Amsterdam, Dublin, London, Paris, Madrid, Toronto, Singapore and Sydney, and in many US cities including Austin, Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Seattle and of course Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, CA.
And you can take virtual action. Come by the page for action items on Feb 6 and tell Facebook to stop harassing breastfeeding women.
Update: Monday, Jan 30, 8 a.m. MT
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Hey Facebook! Every morning I wake up to a new example of how you don't appear to have control of your own network.
Are you awake yet down there in Menlo Park? Yo. Facebook, wake up! You've taken down the official petition, with 258,000 supports, that calls on you to stop harassing breastfeeding women.
All night long the group "Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is Not Obscene (official petition site) shed numbers before the very eyes of the many active administrators and users - it was down to less than 60,000 when Emma Kwasnica went to bed on the west coast.
I woke up this morning to find I was booted. Facebook, you kicked me off the petition I signed asking you to fix your breastfeeding policy!
This is what the group looked like when it was frozen and scheduled to be archived, late last week:
This is what it looked like when you appears to have begun your archival process - you can see the numbers starting to decline (although as soon as it opened up many people who hadn't been able to join started putting in requests) :
And this morning? It's done.
You told to Emma Kwasnica you don't expect to be able to stop the inadvertent deletion of breastfeeding images and the suspensions and disabling of accounts.
You repeatedly apologize, but the images keep coming down. You couldn't even stop your system from deleting the statement Emma issued in response to your offer of an apology. She said she'll accept your apology when you FIX the problem. Poof, it was gone, earning you the dread #prfail hasthag. How embarrassing is that!
Hey Facebook! Get control of your network. Aren't you releasing details of your IPO this week?
Do you really expect investors to purchase stock in a company that can't figure out how to migrate 258,000 database records from an old system into a new one?
Do you really want investors to purchase stock in a company that can't manage to keep its staff from taking down breastfeeding images?
Or do you truly have a vendetta against breastfeeding. Do you truly do believe it's ok to harass, intimidate, and bully breastfeeding women? Is that the message you want your potential investors to hear?
Update: Sunday, Jan 29, 6 a.m. MT
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Remember when Facebook started asking all of us this question? "What are you doing right now?"
We answered. Boy did we answer. We were fascinating. We were profound. We were mundane. Most of the breastfeeding images that are removed from Facebook are really quite mundane. Just snapshots of women breastfeeding their babies, in the park, at the zoo, at birthday parties, on the beach. Some are profound - the moments after birth when a newborn raises its head, finds the nipple, latches on, and makes eye contact. And some are fascinating.
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Caroline Gauthier and her son
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This image was posted by Caroline Gauthier back in September '11 and it has been shared over 1400 times. It's what she was doing right then - breastfeeding during a break in a motorcross rally. It's been deleted from several Facebook pages including a Saskatchewan La Leche League group page. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg tells advertisers when people talk about things they like on Facebook, an average of 150 people get the message through the social networks' version of word-of-mouth. An image that is shared 1400 times has reached at least 200,000 people, maybe more.
What happens when a fascinating image like this goes viral and is seen by tens, or hundreds of thousands of people? All that traffic to Caroline Gauthier's profile got Facebook's attention and they paid her a virtual visit. Like many people she had her profile set up under a different name - LeClan McMillan. In this case she was using a personal profile page much like people now set up pages and groups - as a shared space for family to communicate.
Facebook demanded she put her own name on the account and required proof of ID. They suspended her account until she complied with the request. And then, gasp, one of Caroline's tandem breastfeeding photos came to their attention. Caroline's account was again suspended, this time overnight, and she was warned about posting further images in violation of Facebook's community standards.
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Via Worldwide Movement against
Belo Monte dam project Amazonia
|
What are we doing right now? This image circulated earlier this week on Facebook - it's from the page "Worldwide Movement against Belo Monte dam project Amazonia." This woman is protesting. And breastfeeding.
I have had no reports of this image being removed or accounts being suspended for sharing this photo - it has only been up for a few days and has more than 200 shares. Will it come down? I don't know, that mama seems pretty fierce. As one person commented, "I don't think anyone is going to ask her to go breastfeed in the bathroom."
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Reuters, Damir Sagolj, 1999
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What are we doing right now? This Time front cover from 1999 shows an Albanian mother fleeing with several hundred other refugees towards the Macedonia border to escape ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia. It was taken by Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj and at the time some people seemed to be more shocked by the portrayal of breastfeeding than by the hundreds of people fleeing violence and death.
I've never seen it before on Facebook, but I'll bet if it starts circulating now, at some point it will be removed despite Facebook's assertion they let mainstream print and television standards be their guide in such matters. Probably what will happen is this original image will circulate, and in their ignorance, Facebook workers too young to remember Kosovo will not realize it graced the front cover Time Magazine.
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Woman speaks to
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez - from Paul Rapoport's collection of over 370 breastfeeding images banned from Facebook |
What are we doing right now? This woman is talking to her president. This image has been removed from Facebook.
We breastfeed in real life, it is part of normal, everyday life. Sometimes mundane. Sometimes profound. Sometimes fascinating.
What are you doing Feb 6? Mark your calendar and plan to participate in a day of protest. People all over the globe will be at Facebook offices to tell Facebook to stop harassing breastfeeding women.
Protests are planned for Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park, California, as well as at Facebook's offices in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Detroit, Dublin, London, New York City, Paris, Prineville, OR, Seattle, Sydney, and Toronto. Check the list and plan to attend if you are nearby. You do not need to be breastfeeding - you just need to be outraged enough to come out and tell Facebook what you think of their discriminatory actions.
If you can't attend, you can take other action. Some people are planning to gather at Internet cafes to participate in real live AND virtual protests at the same time. Others plan to change their profile picture for the day. You can head to FB! Stop Harassing... for more info on how you can participate on Feb 6.
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Update: Saturday, Jan 28, 9 p.m.. MT
The official petition site, Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is not Obscene! (Official petition to Facebook), scheduled to be archived by Facebook with the loss of all its 258,000+ supporters, has been upgraded! The discussions are all gone. :( But the group with its members is intact. Don't know why, don't know how, Facebook specifically told Emma Kwasnica this wasn't possible. Head on over and check it out and if you're not a member, request to join and you'll be adding your voice to the several hundred thousand people who have signed the official petition to Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/groups/2517126532/
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Update: Saturday, Jan 28, 9:30 a.m. MT
Morning roll call of Facebook Shame:
- Remember Desirae Dubisky whose account was disabled and her professionally-shot breastfeeding photograph was removed by Facebook? She's got her Facebook account back. But the photographer, Jeanita Kennedy, who owns and runs My Lil Britches Photography, reports the same image was removed from her Facebook page. The local NBC affiliate, KMOT, is working on the story.
- Claire Winstone, PhD and psychotherapist specializing in prenatal and perinatal issues, had her account suspended for displaying one of Emma Kwasnica's breastfeeding images. Facebook told her it was in violation of their community standards. As is usually the case, Facebook didn't even offer Claire an opportunity to contact them to indicate the deletion is error - which it is. Facebook has already apologized to Emma and invited her to re-upload the photo. Yet Facebook continue to remove the image from accounts all over the world. Claire is a health care professional who speaks for babies - we all need to speak for the babies and children who are being shamed by Facebook's behaviour.
 |
Claire Winston, PhD, had Emma's breastfeeding photo removed
from her Facebook page, and her account was suspended until
she acknowledged it was a violation of
Facebook community standards.... which it is not.
|
Emma is fighting to have Facebook assign a real live staff person to address our concerns and fix our accounts while Facebook works to regain control of their network and put a stop to this nonsense.
We are collecting letters from individuals and also from health care professionals and associations and organizations who want to protest Facebook's harassment of breastfeeding women.
We'll be delivering them to Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park on February 6th, and publishing them on a website. If you have an open letter to Facebook that you'd like us to bring with us on February 6th, please address it to CEO Mark Zuckerberg or COO Sheryl Sandberg, and contact me to arrange delivery.
Coming up in the live-chat Monday, Jan 30, 5pmET, Teresa Pitman will discuss the mixed messages Facebook sends when they delete photos and suspend the accounts of women who are sharing the pride and joy they feel about breastfeeding.
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Update: Friday, Jan 27, 2 p.m. MT
Roll call of Facebook Shame: I want to focus on an especially shameful aspect of Facebook's errant breastfeeding photo deletions. Sometimes these are the only copies of precious photos that people have.
It happened to Amanda Gregory, and Rondi Timm, and we've had other reports in the survey response comment section.
Yes, we all should be keeping backups of our photos, but some of us think of Facebook as that backup. And what happens when it's a precious photo of your baby' first moments at the breast after birth, uploaded to Facebook from your husband's iPhone, which is then stolen in the hospital cafeteria? It is very upsetting for people to be harassed, bullied, and intimidated by Facebook for having uploaded the photo in the first place, and then to realize it they've had the only copy of the photo taken away from them. Apologies just aren't enough. This has to stop. Emma Kwasnica wrote about this on Wednesday after people started sharing their stories on the Dispelling Breastfeeding Myths Facebook page:
Q: 'This morning my sister posted on my wall saying FB had removed all my breastfeeding pics. I am totally appalled!! How dare they! After fuming about it for a while I realized all the pics I uploaded were from a phone I recently lost. Now, not only am I angry but I'm sad that these pics from my DD's 10 months of life are gone. I don't want to sit back and let this happen!! Has this happened to anyone else? What can be done?!!' FB! Stop harassing Emma Kwasnica over her breastfeeding pics CAN YOU HELP?
You can chat with Emma today in the live-chat with guest Heather Moore-Farley, the woman who organized the Facebook nurse-in in 2008. 2pmPT, 5pmET. Are you attending nurse-in Feb 6? Come and tell us about it on Facebook, or right here in the blog.
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Update: Thursday, Jan 26, 8:00 a.m. MT
Morning roll call of Facebook shame:
A whole slew of reports have come to my attention overnight:
- Holly Rhynsburger of Utah changed her profile photo to a picture of her baby at the breast, and it was removed by Facebook. She's put it back up.
- Jenni Calli, Patricia Vilasetrú Baró, and Mil Kymumma Izbach have also reported photos deleted.
- Rana Rankin reports one of her breastfeeding images was deleted from the Australian Breastfeeding Association Facebook page.
- Ironically, the New Zealand health department is hosting a breastfeeding photo contest on Facebook, complete with custom app from Wildfire Social Media Marketing.
@@@@@@@
The Leaky B@@b has reached a milestone - there are now 40,000 "likers" on the page. What an amazing community of support and encouragement for breastfeeding moms! Are you a fan of the Leaky B@@b?
Come to the live-chat today at 10amPT 1pmET and hear the story of how Facebook took down the Leaky B@@b over breastfeeding images.
Tell Emma and Jessica about your own experience with Facebook image and account deletions! We'd love to hear your story. How did it make you feel when the Leaky B@@b went down. How did YOU feel when Facebook told you your breastfeeding images were sexually explicit or pornographic, or a violation of community standards?
This morning, Jan 26, 2012, live-chat starts at 10 a.m. Pacific Times, 1 p.m. Eastern Time, you can come to the FB! Stop Harassing... page or participate right here this blog. We'll also be live-tweeting the chat, and you can participate by using the hashtag #fbbf.
@@@@@@@
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Update: Wednesday, Jan 25, 6:00 p.m. MT
What happens when a Facebook support page for breastfeeding women with over 30,000 members gets pulled down for displaying.... gasp! breastfeeding photos! When the Leaky B@@b went down in January almost 10,000 people joined a support page on Facebook, "Bring Back the Leaky Boob." Bloggers blogged, tweeps tweeted, mainstream media got involved, and Facebook relented.
But did Facebook learn anything?
The createor of the Leaky B@@b community will be on live-chat tomorrow to talk to Emma Kwasnica about the Facebook's harassment of breastfeeding women. Are you a Leaky B@@b fan? How did it make you feel when the page went dark? Have you had breastfeeding images removed or your account or page disabled by Facebook? Join us in this live-chat, Thursday, Jan 25, 1pmET, 10amPT.
Twitter, we have twitter! I'll be live-tweeting the live-chat and we'll be using the hashtag #fbbf, (That's for Facebook Breastfeeding!) Anything you tweet into that hashtag will show up as a comment in the live-chat.
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Update: Wednesday, Jan 25, 10:00 a.m. MT
Morning roll call of Facebook shame:
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Desirae Dubisky and her son. Photo by Jeanita Kennedy.
Removed by Facebook from both accounts
|
I am reporting very shameful behaviour on the part of Facebook this morning. Desirae Dubisky has had this photo removed and she was forced to review a number of other photos Facebook decided were possibly inappropriate. She has been given a 24-hour suspension by Principal Zuckerberg.
The photographer is Jeanita Kennedy, who is from a Navajo Reserve near Winslow, Arizona. She served in the US Air Force for six years and she now runs a photography business near the base in Minot, ND, My Lil Britches. When she found out about the deletion this morning Kennedy said:
"There are more thing to worry about in the world, yet they have to waste time on something that is so natural and so NORMAL.......if my FB page becomes inaccessible you will know why. There is no way I am deleting my fb pictures!!!!! I support the way I and other moms bf babies."
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Coming up on the FB! Stop Harassing... page today - Emma Kwansica is hosting a series of live-chats every day between now and the nurse-in/protests scheduled for Facebook headquarters and offices around the globe February 6. Today's guest is Afrykayn Moon, who was booted off the bus in Detroit last year for breastfeeding her two-week-old. Moon and Emma will talk about the intersection of real live and virtual life - is there a difference between harassment in real life over breastfeeding, and harassment on Facebook?
We have quite the line-up of "celebrity" guests scheduled for the live-chats with Emma Kwasnica:
- The Leaky B@@b page owner, who supports almost 40,000 breastfeeding women and was taken down by Facebook over breastfeeding images is on tap tomorrow, Jan 26, 1pmET, 10amPT.
- Heather Farley, the women at the centre of the last nurse-in at Facebook headquarters in December 2008 is up Friday, Jan 27, 5pmET, 2pmPT.
Next week - LLL leader, author and lactation expert Teresa Pitman; Michelle Hickman, whose harassment at a Target store for breastfeeding led to nation-wide nurse-ins and an effort to get Target to launch sensitivity training for their staff; Bettina Forbes from Best for Babes will be talking about her group's support for the Target effort and for a petition to bring breastfeeding back to Sesame Street, and what she thinks is needed to change attitudes at Facebook; and... we're very honoured to be hosting La Leche League founder Marion Thomson, who will dropping by to talk about the days when you couldn't put the word "breast" in a brochure.
Please drop by, live-chats will be running weekdays 5pmET, 2pmPT between now and the global Facebook protests Feb 6. except tomorrow - The Leaky B@@b is at a special time, 1pmET, 10amPT
No special software is needed, just come to the page and join in. If I find time to put my social media tech geek hat on (<<--amateur!) I may even figure out how to put the chats here on this page as well, for those of you who can't or don't want to go to the Facebook page. Update : Woohoo, that was easy!
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Update: Tuesday, Jan 24, 8:00 a.m. MT
Morning roll call of Facebook shame:
Remember Jacqui Gruttadauria, Jake to her friends on Facebook? Her account was restored after Emma personally asked Facebook to step in - she was fully blocked for seven days and prevented from using Facebook to update her family and friends about her mother, who is battling a terminal illness. The deletions continue - Jack reports she had a photo removed this morning. She's not amused:
"all right, i've had it. another pic deleted w/ no notice of any kind off my page - this one of an african mother bfing a white/albino baby w/ both breasts exposed.i am now officially going to do everything i can to help w/ my 1st ever nurse-in at our local FB offices.all local bfing mothers interested in attending, pls contact me - it's set to happen on 2/6/12 and the fb office is w/in a few miles of oakland mall in troy."
Facebook, stop harassing us over breastfeeding photos!
The images below were taken down from the Beautiful Breastfeeding Facebook page just before Christmas - the owner has blogged about it here: "Facebook misogyny needs to end now" - I urge you to check it out so you can see each of these lovely images full-size.
Come by the FB! Stop Harassing... page today at 2 p.m. PT, 3 MT, 4 CT, 5 ET, 6 AT for a live-chat with Emma Kwasnica. She'll be talking about what Facebook said to her about the deletions and bans, and some of the nurse-in/protest organizers will drop in to talk about events planned around the world for the February 6th when we will tell Facebook to stop harassing breastfeeding mothers!
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Update: Monday, Jan 23, 10:30 p.m. MT
Just catching up to a couple of reports of photo deletions over the weekend, will have details on Tuesday.
Over on FB! Stop Harassing... tomorrow, we're hosting a live chat at with Emma Kwasnica. Now's your change to talk to Emma about her chat with Facebook and what is happening with the campaign to get Facebook to stop harassing breastfeeding women. Tune in, 2 p.m. PT or 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, Jan 24.
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Update: Saturday, Jan 21, 5:30 p.m. MT
The lull, where I received no reports of photo deletions, is over. Jenni Cowey contacted me earlier today. Her profile picture was removed. She's put it back up with a message to Facebook, and this is what she says in the comment section under the photo:
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This profile of Jenni Cowey breastfeeding
her child has been deleted. As you can
see, Jenni has a lot to say about that!
|
This is a picture of me breastfeeding my daughter.Apparently this is so offensive it was deleted from my facebook profile picture album and I have been warned to stick to rules or else.Facebook continue to delete mother's breastfeeding pictures despite claiming they are not anti breastfeeding.A simple search will lead you to groups for Swingers, fan pages for Sex in the Morning and countless profiles of glamour models. These things are allowed to stay but a picture of me breastfeeding my daughter is not.There is NOTHING offensive about this picture. In this day and age we should be able to deal with seeing a breast being used for it's actual purpose.
Nurse-ins are planned for all over the US as well as in Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. Note, the nurse-in at Facebook HQ is in Menlo Park - they've recently moved their offices from Palo Alto.
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Update: Friday, Jan 20, 3 p.m. MT
There is a media advisory out today on Emma's statement and plans to organize nurse-ins around the world including in London, Paris, New York, Dublin, Austin, Atlanta, Seattle, Menlo Park, LA, and more!
Hear that? It's quiet, isn't it? Do you think that memo Facebook sent out to its employees has stopped the deletions? Hmm. If that's all it took, why didn't they stop it before? Like when Paul Rapoport started collecting the hundreds of images they've taken down. Or when Heather Farley and her supporters held a nurse-in at Facebook headquarters in December, 2008? Or last week after their embarrassing deletion of Emma's statement responding to their offer of apology. I'd be thrilled if they figured out how to make sure this doesn't ever happen again. But today, I have no reports of new deletions.
Daily roll call of Facebook Shame:
- I don't have a status report on Nicole Miller, as far as I know her account is still down.
- I want to pass on this report from Holly Marie Stewart. This is not a new event - it happened a while ago. But Holly's Facebook account was disabled for 33 days for this image:
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Holly Marie Stewart, breastfeeding and crocheting
at the same time! Facebook took down this photo
and disabled her account for 33 days.
|
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Update: Thursday, Jan 19, 1:55 p.m. MT
Emma Kwasnica put this out on her Facebook status a few minutes ago. (Dear Facebook, please do not delete this statement from Emma's account like last time, and force me to spend all afternoon running around fixing links.)
There is no point in putting on a brave face and pretending I am pleased with the end result of the conference call yesterday, for I am not. In fact, last night I was in a pit of despair over Facebook’s inability to end the harassment of breastfeeding women. It is obvious to me now that Facebook really has lost control of their network, especially when their written policy clearly states they support the sharing of breastfeeding images, yet they say they cannot control the actions of their employees who are continuing to remove breastfeeding images and block accounts of the users who post them -- most all of it “in error.” This is exasperating to me.
Please see my statement, here, for the details of yesterday's hour-long conference call I had with Facebook's policy writer and two other Facebook Operations Team members:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150500960174915
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Update: Thursday, Jan 19, 10 a.m. MT
I'm looking forward to hearing about Emma's meeting with Facebook - it took place yesterday afternoon and following that Emma was scheduled for a radio interview that was cancelled due to a power outage.
Meanwhile, breastfeeding mothers are still being harassed RIGHT NOW by Facebook.
Morning roll call of Facebook shame
I have two reports this morning, a status update just taken down for "nudity, pornography or sexually explicit material" and a mom whose account has been suspended since January 10th. Details below on EcoMILF and Nicole Miller.
- EcoMILF - Australian mom had a status update taken down by Facebook this morning for linking to this blog post with photos. (Update March 18, 2012, the blog has been renamed to This Whole Family) Ironically, the blog post is about how society doesn't
 |
EcoMILF had a status update removed by Facebook
because it links to her blog on breastfeeding
through the second year, and includes these images.
|
support women to breastfeed beyond early infancy. She was told the status update violates Facebook's standards for "nudity, pornography or sexually explicit material.""I've already had three strangers on separate occasions tell me that babies don't need milk after the age of one and that I am 'spoiling her' too much. Doesn't anyone take the World Health Organisations recommendations seriously?
- Nicole Miller, account frozen by Facebook since Jan 10
Nicole took the time to contact me about her account, which has been disabled since January 10th. She was breastfeeding and typing with one hand at the keyboard. I mention this because it is important for people, and Facebook, to understand the people they are harassing are mothers with young children whose nurturing takes up a significant part of their day. These women are taking time out of their lives to talk about the frustration and anger and shame they feel when they are bullied over breastfeeding. They're filling out surveys, they're making reports, they're joining Facebook protest pages and they're planning nurse-ins across the globe. And Emma Kwasnica is taking a huge amount of time out of her life for this. I have read some of the ugly things said about Emma and about mothers who breastfeeding in public. It is hate speech. Does Facebook really want to take sides with users who think women who breastfeed are pornographers?
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Update: Wednesday, Jan 18, 11:50 a.m. MT
Emma Kwasnica, on her way into a meeting with Facebook today to discuss what needs to happen before she will accept their apology for deleting her breastfeeding images and blocking her account:
"I have a meeting/conference call this afternoon with the Facebook policy writer and Marcy (Facebook Operations Team member who phoned me over the weekend).
I am feeling hopeful going into this meeting, as Facebook has already made a few small word changes in their breastfeeding photos policy in response to some preliminary suggestions I made over the phone with Marcy, and they have unblocked one of the woman's accounts brought to my attention.
I am also feeling the need to be realistic.
Facebook has had this issue for years and despite apologies and attempts to fix the problem they still do not have complete control of their network. Even if Facebook commits to making it stop, most likely photo deletions and blocks on accounts will continue for some time while they educate their staff and fix their processes.
I'm calling on people to continue to speak out about this issue. There are no laws that prohibit breastfeeding in public in the real world. There should be no rules prohibiting it on Facebook. We've come to a time where our real life and our virtual life are no longer separate. It's *all* just LIFE.
Today is the day that Facebook's accountability finally begins. I am so proud to be serving breastfeeding women the world over in this way.
(((♥)))
Update: Wednesday, Jan 18, 8 a.m. MT
Stay tuned, Emma will be by at about 11 MT for a statement going into her meeting with Facebook's policy peeps today at 4 MT (that's 3 pm on the West Coast.)
Meanwhile, Jack is back! This song is fast becoming our welcome back song for our peeps who come out of Facebook detention. Listen along with us while you catch up.
"little hellions, kids feeling rebellious, embarrassed their parents still listen to Elvis"
- A special request from Emma Kwasnica to Facebook about Jacqui Gruttadauria has Jacks' account back up. Around the same time Facebook took down Morgan Gallagher, who has had many breastfeeding images removed by Facebook over the years, including the one below. Innerwizdom is still down. Last night I had a report of a woman who was taken down last fall for 35 days for a breastfeeding photo.
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Update: Wednesday, Jan 17, 12:30 a.m. MT
 |
This image of a fountain in Barcelona was deleted
from Morgan Gallagher's Facebook account.
|
Couple of new articles appeared this evening. And also, this delightful image, one of the many breastfeeding-related images that has been taken down in the past from Morgan Gallagher's Facebook account. Gallagher was suspended from her account this afternoon.
Ann Douglas is a Toronto Star columnist and blogger who has authored 28 books on parenting. She has an has an excellent piece I urge you to read on the Facebook v. breastfeeding controversy up on her blog tonight. It appears in print in the Star tomorrow.
Douglas quotes another heavy-hitting author, Teresa Pitman, who wrote La Leche League's Womenly Art of Breastfeeding. Pitman says Facebook is sending mixed messages to women who expressing their pride and happiness with breastfeeding by uploading images, only to have them taken down and labeled obscene.
Douglas takes the argument farther, asking media consultant and former television producer Susan McLennan how Facebook's actions affect women:
“Having your Facebook access removed can feel an awful lot like being publicly shamed. A judgment has been placed on you: you’re no longer welcome. It can feel almost like a body blow.”
McLennan notes users are left dealing with what we call Facebots, calling its automated system for notifying users that their accounts have been suspended, "depersonalized, mechanized, dehumanized." Emma Kwasnica is calling for Facebook to assign a real live staff person to work with people whose photos are deleted in error or whose accounts are blocked so the situation can be fixed right away.
Kwasnica has been invited to meet with Facebook to talk about changing their policy. She has noted elsewhere it's not just a policy change that is needed - Facebook clearly also needs to fix their procedures to they can properly execute their policy.
Also of note, the VancouverFamilyLaw website has also picked up the story, reflecting the reality that this is more than a story about breastfeeding moms being harassed by Facebook, it's about legal rights, human rights, and Facebook's responsibility to behave appropriately towards one segment of its user population.
Update: Tuesday, Jan 17, 1:30 p.m. MT
We have put up a survey to gather more information about people who have had their accounts blocked or disabled or have had breastfeeding photos removed. If it has happened to you or if you know someone it happened to, please take a moment to fill out the survey.
Roll call of Facebook shame:
Facebook apologizes, but just keeps on harassing, bullying, and intimidating breastfeeding mothers. Yes, Facebook is STILL disabling accounts and harassing breastfeeding mothers.
Just now I received a report from well-known UK breastfeeding activist and writer Morgan Gallagher about her account being blocked. (And I'm so pleased to be able pass you on to Morgan's blog and this recent entry on wetnursing, "The Last Taboo")
 |
Writer Morgan Gallagher has been blocked from Facebook.
|
French resident and Human Milk 4 Human Babies admin Murielle Bourbao has had Emma's photo removed for a second time! - the photo Facebook invited Emma to re-upload and apologized for deleting it in error. Bourbao has been warned that her account could be disabled.
- Rachael Ouwejan of New Zealand is back up.
- Jacqui Gruttadauria is still serving her 7 day sentence in Facebook purgatory.
- Nicole Miller just got in touch with us - her account has been down since January 10th.
- @innerwizdom rashel t is still disabled.
Update: Monday, Jan 16, 11:30 a.m. MT < modified 7 p.m. to add Vancouver Sun coverage.
Facebook has apologized for removing breastfeeding photos. Will Emma accept their apology? The Vancouver Sun has a follow-up story. Emma says she'll accept when they fix things! Facebook had no comment. Emma has a conference call with a Facebook staffer to discuss their policies. Stay tuned!
Emma Kwasnica: "Facebook has reached out to me (a Facebook Operations team member, a real live human, actually *phoned* me). It turns out that it is Facebook employees (and skin recognition software) that flag potentially "sexually explicit" photos from our albums, and then a Facebook employee, an actual human, makes the ultimate decision and removes the photo, or not. Their staff need sensitivity training. Their BF policy needs an overhaul. I am meeting with Facebook this week (conference call) to discuss how breastfeeding images are to be handled, and how to fix these discriminatory blocks on women and their accounts, FAST.
If you have had a breastfeeding photo removed, or if you have been blocked, know that it has been done "in error" and please submit your name and details to Jodine Chase, who is compiling the LONG list.
Facebook isn't doing this maliciously; they simply appear to have lost control of their network. Par for the course, really, when you try to play the "moralistic police"...If you have had a breastfeeding photo removed, or if you have been blocked, know that it has been done "in error" and please submit your name and details to Jodine Chase, who is compiling the LONG list. Facebook isn't doing this maliciously; they simply appear to have lost control of their network. Par for the course, really, when you try to play the "moralistic police"..."
Update: Monday, Jan 16, 8 a.m. MT
----------------
Emma is on the Maritime Morning's live radio show this morning at 10:30 ET, 7:30 PT. Facebook has apologized for removing Emma's pictures, and says it was a mistake. They've invited Emma to put the photos back up. What does Facebook have to do to convince Emma to accept their apology? Emma wants Facebook to take action to FIX the problem and make it right. Apologies aren't enough. Tune in!
Via Emma Kwasnica: "I will be on the airwaves again in the morning on Maritime Morning with Jordi Morgan (on News 95.7 All News Radio). The segment will tackle the Facebook/breastfeeding images debacle and it will air live at 11:30am AST (Atlantic Standard Time), 10:30am EST, 9:30am CST and 7:30am Pacific Standard Time.Be sure to tune in --click on LISTEN LIVE!"
Overnight we have had yet more reports of removed photos.
- Murielle Bourbau, Human Milk 4 Human Babies volunteer in France, had the photo Facebook invited Emma to re-upload, taken down from her profile picture.
- Rachael Ouwejan of New Zealand, Jacqui Gruttadauria, and @innerwizdom rashel t are STILL down.
 |
Facebook can't stop itself from
pulling this picture down.
|
I can't even count how how many times this photo has been taken down - Facebook has apologized, they've invited Emma to put it back up... and it still keeps coming down.
Update: Sunday, Jan 15, 9 a.m.
----------------
Morning roll call of shame:
- Rachael Ouwejan of New Zealand has had her account disabled. Don't have details, she's scrambling to get herself tied back into her network.
- Jacqui Gruttadauria is still serving her 7 day sentence in Facebook purgatory.
- @innerwizdom rashel t is still disabled and worried her account may be permanently deleted. She's embraced Twitter though and is one of the growing list of Tweeps at @jodinechase/fb-deleted-breastfeeding.
- Jen Hart had a photo removed.
These are strong women who have reached out to me. But as Emma noted in her interview with Radio talkshow host Roy Green yesterday, how many other women were shamed by Facebook and haven't spoken out. If you are being harassed, bullied, or intimidated by Facebook, get in touch with me at @jodinechase on Twitter or jchase@mediaworkswest.com.
Some of our peeps are noticing photos just disappear from their accounts without any warning, which is disturbing. A number of organizers of the upcoming nurse-ins at Facebook offices and headquarters around the globe are noticing an increase in the numer of deletions on their accounts. Nurse-ins are planned for Palo Alto, London, New York, Oregon, Sydney, and more are coming.
Check out this great video made in support of the cause by Natasha Chiam!
There's also a trailer for the official FB! Stop Harassing... with a link to the call to action, "Facebook, get your hands off our breasts." 30 seconds, pass it on!
Link to trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgiTvj1UasE
Facebook is taking notice of our concerns, they put back Emma's statement in response to their offer of apology. PR #fail damage control begins.
NOTE TO MEDIA: if you are trying to reach Emma, please cc me at jchase@mediaworkswest.com and I will expedite.
Update: Saturday, Jan 14, 8 a.m.
----------------
I got up this morning in the hopes that Facebook would have put a stop to this ridiculous situation. Sigh. Before I even get to the roll call of shame... I have to tell you that Emma Kwasnica had another deletion from her account.
Facebook deleted her statement responding to their apology. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.
 |
This is the notice Facebook sent Emma after they
deleted her statement responding to their
offer of an apology
|
Here is the statement in full.
Emma Kwasnica responds to Facebook after receiving apology"I will accept their apology when they actually ensure that they will never do it again to me or to anyone else, and when they right this wrong."
After emailing a Facebook contact several times, beginning on Saturday, the day my account was first blocked this last time around, Facebook has responded and unblocked my account.
Facebook has offered an apology, has said my breastfeeding photos were removed in error, and they have encouraged me to re-upload them to my account.
I will accept their apology when they actually ensure that they will never do it again to me or anyone else, and when they right this wrong. It is not enough to apologize, and it is not enough to say it won't happen again. Since 2008 I have had over 20 photos deleted and my account has been disabled four times, once for 30 days.
Facebook also needs to reinstate the accounts of the other women who are still blocked.
In their response to me Facebook has indicated they are working on a process to ensure this never happens again. They need to fix this quickly because since my deletion at least four other friends had their accounts disabled this week, one for a copy of the same photo I uploaded. A number of other women had photos removed including a 16th century renaissance painting of Mary breastfeeding baby Jesus. This has been going on for a number of years - in December 2008 another mother, Heather Farley, held a nurse-in at Facebook headquarters over the same issue.
There are many, many women who have been victimized by this practice. Most upsetting, this morning, several hours after Facebook initiated their apology to me, they removed a breastfeeding photo and slapped a seven-day block on one of my Facebook friends, a woman who is using Facebook to communicate with friends and family about the last days of life of her dying mother.
I am calling on Facebook to designate a staff person to work with these women and anyone else whose accounts are similarly affected so these inadvertent deletions and blocking of accounts can be immediately rectified.
The final way Facebook can put things right is to ensure they adopt the only acceptable policy on breastfeeding images, which is that all breastfeeding images must be left alone. I am available to Facebook to work with them on drafting and finalizing such a policy.
We are calling on Facebook to ensure their policy does not discriminate against any breastfeeding woman.
Emma Kwasnica
Vancouver, Canada
Thursday, January 12, 11 p.m.
Facebook spokesperson Krista Kobeski wrote to Emma:"The removal of the photos from your account was an error, and we do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Facebook receives hundreds of thousands of reports every week, and as you might expect, occasionally, we make a mistake and remove a piece of content we shouldn't have. When this happens, we work quickly to address it by apologizing to the people affected and making any necessary changes to our processes to ensure the same type of mistakes do not continue to be made. Should you wish to re-upload the photos that were removed from your account, we would encourage you to do so.We agree that breastfeeding is natural and we are very glad to know that it is important for mothers, including the many mothers who work at Facebook, to share their experience with others on the site. The vast majority of breastfeeding photos are compliant with our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Facebook takes no action on such content. However, some photos which contain a fully exposed breast do violate our terms and may be removed if they are reported to us. These policies are based on the same standards that apply to television and print media. The presence of minors on Facebook makes it necessary to impose certain limitations on the display of nudity, even though that is not always convenient or acceptable to all audiences. Our policies have to fit the needs of a diverse community, but aspire to respect your right to share content which is important to you, including your experiences as a mother. It is important to note that photos upon which we act are almost exclusively brought to our attention by other users who complain about them being shared on Facebook.
We would be pleased to continue this discussion with you, should you have any additional questions."
I'm working on the roll call of shame and I have heard of several deletions and a disabling, so if you have had your photos deleted, your account suspended, or disabled overnight, get in touch with me and I'll add you to the list. You can comment on the blog post here, reach me by twitter at @jodinechase or email me, jchase@mediaworkswest.com, please put "Facebook account" in the subject line -- Jodine
NOTE TO MEDIA: if you are trying to reach Emma, please cc me and I will expedite.
Update: Friday, Jan 13, 8 a.m.
----------------
Morning roll call of shame for Facebook:
The harassment, bullying, and intimidation continues.
- Jacqui Gruttaduaria, Jack to her FB friends, is still blocked for SEVEN DAYS. Jack has updated her blog to include Emma's response to Facebook's apology attempt.
- MamaActivist Wizdom's account is STILL BLOCKED - going on 60 hours.
- Stella Onions and Candice Fisk, administrator for Human Milk 4 Human Babies - Manitoba, had photos removed this morning. Stella, who has breastfed on national TV in the UK, thinks it's ironic FB won't allow her breastfeeding images on its site. More irony, Candice's photo is the exact same one Facebook just invited Emma to re-upload... great, so Emma can get reported and booted again?
Yes, you read that right up there, Emma has received an apology and has responded - see update right below here. Emma says she will accept their apology when Facebook ensures it will never do it again to anyone else, and when the company rights this wrong. She's calling on Facebook to assign a staffer to help the women who are still blocked and to revise the policy to the only acceptable policy on breastfeeding images - that they be left alone. She's is making herself available to Facebook to work with them on drafting and finalizing such a policy.
There's a fabulous 30-second spot up promoting the YouTube video that tells Facebook to take their hands off our breasts. Give it a listen and I'll bet you won't be able to resist watching the full video, just to hear the rest of the that most excellent song, "Busting the Breast" by Bowser and Blue, who graciously said "yes indeedy" when we asked for permission to use it for the cause.
Coming up later this morning, Canada.com is hosting a live chat with INFACT Canada's Elisabeth Sterken, Canadian blogger Kelly Conner, and Vancouver Sun editors Maggie Langrick and Gillian Burnett. Log in and check it out, 9:30am PST, 12:30 EST.
If you would like to let people know how you feel about Facebook's harassment of #breastfeeding women, join this Canada.com live chat today at 9:30 a.m. Pacific/12:30 p.m. Eastern. Panel: Elisabeth Sterken, director of Infact Canada, a breastfeeding advocacy group, Kelly Connor, a prominent Canadian blogger (citymom.ca) who writes about women's issues, Maggie Langrick, Arts and Lifestyles editor at the Vancouver Sun, and Gillian Burnett, digital editor at the Vancouver Sun. That's in a little over 3 hours from now. Log in, use your voice! - Jodine
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Update: Friday, Jan 13, 12:15 a.m.
----------------
Emma Kwasnica responds to Facebook after receiving apology
by FB! Stop harassing Emma Kwasnica over her breastfeeding pics on Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:13am
Emma Kwasnica responds to Facebook after receiving apology
"I will accept their apology when they actually ensure that they will never do it again to me or to anyone else, and when they right this wrong."
After emailing a Facebook contact several times, beginning on Saturday, the day my account was first blocked this last time around, Facebook has responded and unblocked my account.
Facebook has offered an apology, has said my breastfeeding photos were removed in error, and they have encouraged me to re-upload them to my account.
I will accept their apology when they actually ensure that they will never do it again to me or anyone else, and when they right this wrong. It is not enough to apologize, and it is not enough to say it won't happen again. Since 2008 I have had over 20 photos deleted and my account has been disabled four times, once for 30 days.
Facebook also needs to reinstate the accounts of the other women who are still blocked....
Update: Thursday, Jan 12, 10:40 a.m.
----------------
Remember this? The "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene! (Official petition to Facebook) Group?" Take a good hard look at the number of members in that group - 258,192 people signed this official petition. What happened to it? Well, Facebook has flagged it for archive. The group's administrators have never been offered the opportunity to transfer it over to the new Facebook Group format with its membership intact. When it is archived the content will remain, but those 258,192 members will drop off. Nice trick, hey? Head on over there today, the group page is open, and raise your voice! Tell Facebook to migrate the petition site over to the new format with its membership intact.
Update: Thursday, Jan 12, 7:45 a.m.
----------------
Morning roll call of shame for Facebook:
The harassment, bullying, and intimidation continues.
- this just in, Jacqui Gruttaduaria, Jack to her FB friends, has been blocked for SEVEN DAYS! Grrr.
UPDATE Jan 13 Jack has blogged on her latest ban.
- MamaActivist Wizdom's account is STILL blocked. She has started her 750words.com account from scratch and is worried her Facebook account will be fully deleted.
- Tara Bercier of Winnipeg has AGAIN had her profile photo removed - this picture of her nursing her young one.
- Emma is still blocked.
 |
Facebook removed this
profile photo of Tara Bercier
and her little one
|
If you had pics were removed or if you were disabled or blocked, let me know.
Emma is a media darling in Italy today! Italian news outlets have picked up this story and are calling Facebook "puritanical" and Emma is a "hot mama."
 |
Facebook odia le mamme che allattano - Giornalettismo, Jan 12, 2011 |
 |
ALLATTA LE FIGLIE E PUBBLICA LE FOTO - Leggo, Jan 12, 2011
|
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Update: Wednesday, Jan 12, 1 a.m.
---------------
A YouTube Video has been produced to help illustrate the kinds of breastfeeding photos that women cherish and post on Facebook, and Facebook's response. There are many examples of photos that have been removed from Facebook.
Update: Wednesday, Jan 12, 7 pm.
---------------
CBC Television's evening news coverage is up on their website.
Update: Wednesday, Jan 11, 3:20 p.m.
---------------
Emma is going live in 10 minutes on a Vancouver talk radio show. Tune in and check it out! (2:30 PST)
Emma is also doing another interview on CBC Radio this afternoon, link here with details
Update: Wednesday, Jan 11, 3 p.m.
---------------
- Another woman blocked. Kristy Brouilette reports she couldn't access Facebook all day- because she shared Emma's breastfeeding picture.
Update: Wednesday, Jan 11, 1:45 p.m.
----------------
My Facebook account has been reinstated. I wonder for how long?
Here is a list of nurse-ins that are planned at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, their New York City Offices, in London, and elsewhere. Check it out, plan to attend, if you'd like to help organize there are links in the doc.
Update: Wednesday, Jan 11, 11 a.m.
----------------
News coverage:
Emma Kwasnica will be on CBC Radio British Columbia's noon newscast in pre-recorded interview. You can listen here at 12 NOON PST
Emma will also be LIVE on Toronto's NewsTalk1010 Radio with Jim Richards after the top-of-the-hour newscast at 12:07 p.m. PST. You can listen live here.
And, CBC Television is sending a crew to interview Emma this afternoon and it will likely air on their newscast tonight. Link here.
Update: Wednesday, Jan 11, 7 a.m.
----------------
The harassment, bullying, and intimidation continues.
- MamaActivist Wizdom's account is still blocked. She also can't access her 750words.com account because she originally logged in using Facebook.
- Therase Fitzgerald Weeks, from Australia, had a photo removed overnight.
- Tara Bercier of Winnipeg had Emma's photo up as her profile pic in solidarity and it was removed overnight.
If you had pics were removed or if you were disabled or blocked, let me know and I'll add you to the list for today.
----------------
Update, Wednesday, Jan 11, 6:30 a.m.
News1130, a local talk radio station in Vancouver, interviewed Emma Kwasnica last night about the thousands of people who have signed her support page. Emma responds to Facebook's Canadian spokesperson's advise to Canadian women to stop posting breastfeeding photos:
"In public, we have the protected, legal right to breastfeed anywhere a woman is allowed to be. Why is it any different on Facebook? It's a public domain now. It doesn't make any sense."She says a woman in North Carolina got an apology from Facebook just over a week ago saying it supports women breastfeeding. But she can't figure out why the Canadian arm of the company considers the photos a violation of its nudity policy.As for a solution, she wants to see photos left as they're posted by breastfeeding mums."Facebook cannot delete them, call them pornographic, or refer to them as 'nudity.' A breastfeeding mother is not nude. It just needs to be accepted that this is a part of a young child's life."
Update, Tuesday, 7:20 p.m.
The Vancouver Sun has just published an interview with Emma Kwasnica and a response from Facebook's Canadian publicist, Reena Dacdo. From the article (full link below)
"Dacdo says Facebook is standing firm."It's a tough battle for (Kwasnica), but with 18 million active Canadian users, Facebook is trying to find that balance with respecting everyone's values."Dacdo said Facebook is "largely self-regulating" so it's up to users to determine if a particular image contravenes Facebook's policy.She said Facebook does not have a specific policy regarding breastfeeding images, but "given that Facebook's policy is no-nudity, it would be best not to post (breastfeeding images)."
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Breastfeeding+takes+Facebook+nudity+policy/5975935/story.html#ixzz1j727Vli6
Yet, this is what a US Facebook communications staffer told news outlet WCNC when they apologized about a similar photo deletion:
"We agree that breastfeeding is natural and beautiful and we're very glad to know that it is important for mothers to share their experience with others on Facebook."
--------------
Update, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
MamaActivist Wizdom has made public the photo that got her dumped off Facebook this morning. I think this is such a lovely photo - a JUST born newborn baby at the breast for the first time after birth, with a toddler tucked under an arm, also nursing.
--------------
Update, Tuesday, 2:30 p.m.
Unfortunately, the harassment continues.
- Danelle Frisbie. has her account back.
- Emma Kwasnica is still blocked.
- Jodine Chase's account was re-enabled but she's still blocked.
Three more women were harassed overnight -
- Sharlene Carlson had her profile picture removed. It's the detail of Mary nursing the baby Jesus from a Renaissance painting.
- Nicole Miller had her account blocked.
- MamaActivist Wizdom has had her account blocked. She had a profile pic of herself tandem nursing two of her littles.
Breaking news! Emma is going on Gena Kirby's show again, in 40 minutes!
Facebook V Emma Kwasnica and Breastfeeding are you Next?
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/progressive-parenting/2012/01/10/facebook-v-emma-kwasnica-and-breastfeeding-are-you-next
Emma has also done an interview with the PostMedia daily newspaper, The Vancouver Sun.
A Spanish petition is circulating:
http://actuable.es/peticiones/por-facebook-anule-cuentas-madres-publican-fotos
The twitter petition continues and has reached almost 100,000 eyeballs
act.ly/5dj
There is a nurse-in planned for Facebook Headquarters in Palo Alto and their corporate offices in NYC on Feb. 6
---------------
Update, Tuesday, 2 p.m. - Further update to this - I am wrong, Facebook is putting some people's comments into a "hidden posts" file, flagging them as spam, and one of the admins is taking the time to release them from hiding and is noting what Facebook did to them. My bad. But then, I could have cleared this up in two nanoseconds if Facebook would actually allow me to communicate with other users!!!
Update, Tuesday, 1:45 p.m. - As the number of people on the Facebook support page for Emma and others harassed by Facebook for posting breastfeeding pictures grows to almost 3,000, Facebook is now restricting admins from posting on the page. This is what the rest of the world sees:
 |
FB blocks supporters from posting on page
|
----------------
Update, Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. -
Good morning. Thanks for all of your support.
This morning Facebook arbitrarily opened my account back up but removed another picture (the same picture of Emma nursing her daughter that has caused this latest round - see below) and put me on 24-hour suspension.
I can:
- like posts
- post in private groups, but I can only start a post, I can't respond to anyone else
I cannot:
- PM
- upload
- post on my own page
So if I don't respond, know that I am there, with virtual blood dripping down my chin from the biting of my tongue that Facebook has forced on me.
Also this morning, one of my Facebook friends had her profile photo removed -
 |
The profile photo, a detail from a 16th century Renaissance painting of the
Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Baby Jesus, was removed from my
friend's FB account this morning.
|
it's the same as my profile photo. I changed mine in solidarity with Emma Kwasnica, and she changed hers in solidarity with me when I was booted. It is a detail from a Renaissance painting of Mary breastfeeding Jesus, You can see the full painting below. I kinda like the detail - if you look closely you can see Mary is likely using her finger to break the Baby Jesus's latch. Or perhaps she's repositioning the nipple in his mouth as he glances away.
----------------
Update, Monday, 5:10 pm.
Emma will be co-hosting Gena Kirby's Progressive Parenting show on Blog Talk Radio. They'll be talking about "The silent ban on breastfeeding and breastist attitudes"
"Story after story has been emerging about women being asked to leave establishments across the nation for feeding their children. In spite of the fact that Forty-five states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have laws that specifically allow women to breastfeed in any public or private location.On tonight's show we will be talking with Harley Jennette who was just recently kicked out of church AND told by the police that she could be arrested for indecent exposure for breastfeeding.. CONTRARY to the law.We will be joined by Emma Kwasnica founder of Human Milk 4 Human Babies. She is no stranger to "Breastist" attitudes as Emma Kwasnica is being harassed by Facebook again for posting photos of her nurslings. This despite Facebook’s recent apology in the public media, saying this is against their policy. Call into the show to share your opinions or stories or to ask a question."
I'll also be on the show.
Click here to listen:
follow
Call in number to speak with the host
(917) 889-2491
----------------
Update, Monday, Jan 9, 5 p.m.
A nurse-in is being organized at Facebook HQ in Palo Alto and also at their offices in New York City for February 6, 2012, 10a - 1p Details are at this Facebook page (which I can't see, confirm for yourselves, please!) on.fb.me/ykN15b Another one - Heather Farley held one in 2008 - see her comments at the time on YouTube.
-----------------
Update, Monday, Jan 9, 5 p.m.
A Spanish petition to Facebook is now circulating at actuable.
-----------------
Update Monday Jan 9, 4:30 p.m.
Emma issues a news release.
"Facebook has to stop harassing women for posting pictures of breastfeeding. It's that simple. They have to stop. It's no different than harassing a woman in public for breastfeeding. We aren't doing anything wrong, and it's not right that they harass, intimidate and bully us because they have unclear policies and can't figure out how to get their employees to follow them correctly."
I can't link to the FB release so I have put it up on my blog.
------------------
Update Monday, Jan 9, at 2 p.m.:
This from the Guardian - Facebook removed photos of two little girls breastfeeding their dollies! Facebook apologises for deleting photos of girls pretending to breastfeed: Pictures on an NHS-backed breastfeeding group of two girls pretending to feed dolls were removed for 'policy violation' - Tanith Carey, guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 January 2012 17:00 GMT
------------------
Update Monday Jan 9, 1 p.m.:
The Human Milk News Blog Facebook page, which I curate, has also been disabled.
A number of bloggers are writing in support. Links are below. (email me at jchase@mediaworkswest.com or message me on twitter, @jodinechase if you want me to add your blog post to the list.)
------------------
Update Monday, Jan 9, 9:30 a.m.: Emma Kwasnica was just blocked from Facebook for three days. They removed this photo:
And gave her this warning message:
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Update Monday, Jan 9, 6:30 a.m.: - I woke up this morning to a disabled account. I can no longer log in and even see anything on Facebook. Since yesterday Facebook has had me on suspension, unable to upload anything. This means they've fully disabled my account over the same content it had yesterday. A few photos of breastfeeding women. Somewhere in there is this photograph of me breastfeeding at my wedding. Will this be the one I have to remove to convince them I've followed their orders and removed photos that "contain nudity or are inappropriately sexual?"
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Update Monday, Jan 9, 12:04 a.m.: - Late this evening another supporter of Emma, Danelle F., was flagged twice by Facebook for the same post on two different pages and her account was fully suspended. She has no access. For this statement and a link to the page set up on Facebook to support Emma (which had almost 2,000 supporters by midnight, a day after it was set up:)
 |
Another mother supporting Emma Kwasnica had her Facebook account suspended over the above post.
|
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Update Sunday Jan 8, 3:45 p.m.: - There's a petition on Twitter asking Facebook to stop harassing Emma - you can sign it at http://www.act.ly/5dj
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Link to original blog post, Jan. 8, 2011 - Facebook harasses moms over breastfeeding photos
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