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'Free the nipple': Facebook and Instagram to lift ban on bare breasts as it violates 'human rights'

This comes after Instagram banned posts by a couple, one of whom is trans and the other non-binary, who posed topless but covered their nipples to promote surgery awareness

MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA: Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is all set to "free the nipple" as a result of its Oversight Board's decision that the restriction on bare breasts violates the "human rights" of women, transgender individuals, and non-binary persons. The board's suggestion centered on Instagram's decision to ban two posts by a couple, one of whom is transgender and the other non-binary, who posed topless but covered their nipples to promote top surgery awareness. 

According to the board, the "[old] policy is based on a binary view of gender and a distinction between male and female bodies," making the prohibition against baring nipples "unclear" to people who do not identify as women. However, women are also impacted because they have long worked to desexualize pictures of bare breasts while asserting that men are free to show their bare chests. 

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In 2020, male and female protesters wearing nothing but their underwear marched to Facebook's New York offices to call for a change in the company's bare-breast policy. The company's adult nudity policy is predicated on a binary conception of gender, according to the board, which is financed by Meta but runs autonomously. As a result, it is unclear how the regulations apply to intersex, non-binary, and transgender people, Daily Mail reported.

In 2013, Facebook and Instagram came under fire for removing pictures of nursing mothers. The social media sites later apologized and claimed that the removal actually encouraged such pictures to appear on their platforms. "The Oversight Board finds that removing these posts is not in line with Meta's Community Standards, values, or human rights responsibilities," it stated of the two posts that started the case, one from 2021 and the other from 2022. "These cases also highlight fundamental issues with Meta's policies. Such an approach makes it unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary and transgender people and requires reviewers to make rapid and subjective assessments of sex and gender," the board stated, as per a Daily Mail report.

The "free the nipple" craze has taken over the internet, and many people have responded to the ban overhaul, with one user tweeting, "We won, guys. They fell for it. Now, get those sweater puppies out ladies!" "Great news!" said another. "Oh good, I've been waiting for this my whole life..... , wrote one user.

An unhappy user tweeted, "This is an absolute disgrace to women!" Another user criticized, "So Facebook changing name to Pornbook?" One user questioned, "So when are they going to increase the age to use their site to 18?" "Sex sells!" one user remarked. 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.