Facebook bans Kiwi singer over #MeToo video
Rejected music clip puts artist’s funding in jeopardy
An emerging Kiwi singer has been dealt a blow by Facebook after the social media giant deleted her fan page over a music video deemed offensive for its partial nudity.
Electronica songstress Helen Corry has hit back at Facebook, calling it an over-reaction.
She wants the page with its 2000 followers, built up over her 10-year music career, reinstated.
She says without it she is in jeopardy of failing eligibility criteria for funding from NZ On Air.
“I understand it’s important for there to be screening so that dangerous content doesn’t end up in front of us,” Corry said.
“But I’m just shocked that once it has got to a human level, and a human being has looked at the content, that it has still had the same outcome, that it’s deemed inappropriate.”
Facebook bans nudity except in some circumstances. In the past it has come under fire for deleting photos of breastfeeding mothers and, controversially, the Pulitzer-prize winning photograph of a napalm attack in southern Vietnam.
The video for Corry’s second single La Femme, a song about the empowerment of women and the #MeToo movement, features a bronze-painted woman wearing only a G-string and with nipples covered in gold leaf.
Two days after Corry’s husband, Damien McDowell, posted the video to the official Helen Corry Facebook page last month, he received a notification to take the content down.
But at the same time Facebook disabled McDowell’s private account, where he had shared the video, for three days.
So Corry changed the cover image of the YouTube video from one featuring the bronze woman to a screen grab showing only her face.
The move was not enough and Facebook shut down Corry’s page.
“I was shocked at the consequence
It’s a real shame because it’s a really nice piece of work. David Ridler, NZ On Air
that it’s gone forever.”
She said trying to get an explanation and solution from Facebook was difficult.
“Speaking to a human being, getting to the point where I could liaise directly and have a conversation with someone took a really long time.”
When Corry did manage to establish email communication, she was told after consideration her request to re-enable the page had been rejected.
Corry said the deletion of the page put her at risk of not being able to qualify for NZ On Air funding to make future music videos.
One of the 22 NZ On Air funding criteria, of which at least 10 are required, is that the artist or group has more than 1000 fans on a social media platform. Corry’s Instagram page only has 400 followers.
“It takes a really long time to develop an audience and it’s a really important platform for me.”
Corry, who directed the video, was planning to “boost” it on Facebook with paid advertising so it would be shared to thousands, ahead of the release of her first EP in mid-May.
“I had a strategy around what I was going to do with this release on Facebook and I haven’t had an opportunity to do that at all because of this censorship.”
NZ On Air head of music David Ridler called the video beautiful and tasteful.
“It’s a real shame because it’s a really nice piece of work.”
Ridler said social media platforms were critical for Kiwi musicians.
“It’s a really effective and costeffective way for someone to communicate with their audience.”
In its guidelines Facebook said it made allowances for some nudity.
“For example, while we restrict some images of female breasts that include the nipple, we allow other images, including those depicting acts of protest, women actively engaged in breastfeeding, and photos of post-mastectomy scarring.
“We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures.”
A spokesman for Facebook said it was investigating.