Facebook looks at relaxing ‘censorship’ on child nudity

FACEBOOK is considering relaxing its rules on child nudity to allow more “non-sexualised” photographs of naked or semi-naked children.

The social network has set up a working group to discuss switching to a “more nuanced” policy amid concerns the existing one amounts to “censorship”, minutes from a meeting show.

Currently, almost all images which show the chests, bottoms or genitalia of youngsters aged between five and 18 are banned to protect them from exploitation by paedophiles.

Andy Burrows, associate head of child online safety at the NSPCC, said Facebook needed to tread “extremely carefully” with any relaxation of the current rules. He said: “Proud parents are understandably keen to share pictures on Facebook of their child on the beach or in the bath.

“However… it also risks giving other Facebook users access to photos of child nudity which they are then free to view and share with others.”

Facebook has been criticised in the past for its strict approach to child nudity, which has led moderators to remove innocent photos of children with their parents or siblings as well as pictures of atrocities and images of historical interest.

The tech giant increasingly uses artificial intelligence to immediately delete uploaded pictures of child nudity – removing 8.7 million such images between July and September last year.