FACEBOOK LIFTS BAN ON SEEDS AD DEEMED ‘OVERTLY SEXUAL’

Facebook has reversed its decision to prevent a seed company in Newfoundland from using a photo of a pile of onions, which the social media giant had deemed “overtly sexual.” Jackson Mclean, the manager of Gaze Seed Co. in St. John’s, said Facebook approved the online advertisement on Wednesday after he asked for a review. Mclean said there was nothing sexual about the ad for the Walla Walla sweet onion seeds. A photo on the packaging shows several whole onions piled in a wicker basket and a few sliced onions in the foreground. “There was something about the round shapes being next to each other that set off some trigger,” he said. Mclean thought it was funny and decided to post a couple of screenshots. “I knew that our Facebook audience would get a kick out of it as well,” he said. Meg Sinclair, head of communications for Facebook Canada, blamed the company’s filtering technology. “We use automated technology to keep nudity off our apps, but sometimes it doesn’t know a Walla Walla onion from a, well, you know,” Sinclair said.