Facebook admits ‘mistake’ in suspending user for lesbian kiss photo

Amid a controversy after an Italian user was blocked for uploading a photo of a lesbian kiss, Facebook has admitted it made a “mistake”.

Carlotta Trevisan, a 28-year-old mother who is straight, but supports LGBT rights, was asked by Facebook to remove the image, which it said broke rules regarding “nudity and pornography”. 

When she refused, she was told her account would be suspended for “violating the community’s standards.” The account was eventually reinstated.

Facebook has now told Buzzfeed: “In an effort to quickly and efficiently process reports we receive, our community operations team reviews many reports every week, and as you might expect, occasionally, we make a mistake and block a piece of content we shouldn’t have.

“We can understand how people can be frustrated with this when, as in this case, a mistake happens.”

As well as the image being reported to Facebook, Trevisan received abusive comments such as that the image was “disgusting”, and inappropriate because other users “have young children to protect.”

Once Ms Trevisan’s profile was reinstated after the incident which took place on IDAHOT on Saturday, she set the image as her profile picture.

• Dec 01 2023

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