Facebook says it’s reviewing its anti-nudity policy after the social media platform’s algorithms rejected ads by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts because they featured nudes painted by the world famous 20th century artist Pablo Picasso.
The museum says that in May Facebook’s automated system that polices what users on the social media giant can post online blocked an ad for its show called From Africa to the Americas: Face-to-Face Picasso, Past and Present because the marketing team initially used an image of the artist’s 1956 painting Femmes à la toilette.
The celebrated cubist work features stylized images of two nude women.
Pascale Chassé, a museum spokesperson, told CBC Montreal’s Daybreak morning radio show that the museum changed the ad three times, trying to use different images from the exhibit, but every attempt was rejected.
Picasso’s 1956 painting, Femmes à la toilette, triggered Facebook’s algorithm to flag it as inappropriate content. (CBC)
The automated system even blocked an ad containing a Picasso still life called Large still life with pedestal.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s Picasso,” Chassé said.
Eventually, the museum was able to reach a Facebook content moderator who overruled the automated system and allowed the ad.
The social network site is now also considering extending that exemptions to other museums and art institutions as well.
“We want to make sure that museums and other institutions are able to share some of their most iconic paintings and are currently reviewing our approach to nudity in paintings in ads on Facebook,” said a Facebook spokesperson in an email to Radio Canada International.
In the meantime, the exhibit continues through September 16, 2018.
With files from CBC News
