Three years ago, a group of artists and curators were invited to Facebook’s offices to discuss censorship on social media. Emma Shaprio asks why nothing has yet changed.
“Instagram has a problem and I think I know what it is,” stated the artist Betty Tompkins in a letter read aloud at Facebook's Manhattan headquarters in 2019. In June of that year, Facebook had finally agreed to meet with artists about what then appeared to be a relatively simple matter of equal treatment of artistic images. The “problem”, Tompkins wrote, was the platform’s inability to follow its own guidelines allowing for nudity in art.
Following years of complaints, protests, and petitions by artists who had become increasingly frustrated with the platform’s removal of art, the announcement of the meeting itself was seen as a win. Twenty artists and curators were invited to Facebook offices in New York for what was anticipated to result in a “reconsideration” of their guidelines, and many artists believed they would finally be listened to. Now, three years later, Facebook changed their name to Meta, but the “problem” Tompkins pointed to remains unchanged.
The glimmer of hope that Facebook might “reconsider” their treatment of artists is now widely acknowledged to have been nothing more than the glint of the gaslight...Keep reading on The Art Newspaper.
“Instagram has a problem and I think I know what it is,” stated the artist Betty Tompkins in a letter read aloud at Facebook's Manhattan headquarters in 2019. In June of that year, Facebook had finally agreed to meet with artists about what then appeared to be a relatively simple matter of equal treatment of artistic images. The “problem”, Tompkins wrote, was the platform’s inability to follow its own guidelines allowing for nudity in art.
Following years of complaints, protests, and petitions by artists who had become increasingly frustrated with the platform’s removal of art, the announcement of the meeting itself was seen as a win. Twenty artists and curators were invited to Facebook offices in New York for what was anticipated to result in a “reconsideration” of their guidelines, and many artists believed they would finally be listened to. Now, three years later, Facebook changed their name to Meta, but the “problem” Tompkins pointed to remains unchanged.
The glimmer of hope that Facebook might “reconsider” their treatment of artists is now widely acknowledged to have been nothing more than the glint of the gaslight...Keep reading on The Art Newspaper.