Just when we thought that there couldn't possibly be more useless detritus floating around on Facebook and Instagram comes the news that both social media platforms could soon be "allowing transgender and non-binary users to flash their bare breasts".
And in a real slap to the face for equality, women who were born biologically female will have no such option, according to a new report by the NY Post.
Regardless, Meta’s Oversight Board, which the company refers to as its "Supreme Court" for moderation and censorship policies, ordered both Facebook and Instagram to "lift a ban on images of topless women for anyone who identifies as transgender or non-binary," the Post wrote.
The board's decision stated: “The same image of female-presenting nipples would be prohibited if posted by a cisgender woman but permitted if posted by an individual self-identifying as non-binary.”
And hey, we're asking for a friend, but we wonder how much the position of "breast content moderator" is going to pay. After all, the company is reportedly going to be relying on "human reviewers" to moderate such content, the report says.
Those reviewers are going to be tasked with “quickly assess[ing] both a user’s sex, as this policy applies to ‘female nipples,’ and their gender identity,” the Post wrote. And this isn't some hastily thrown together initiative - the board has added the complex nuance that there will be “additional nipple-related exceptions based on contexts of protest, birth giving, after birth, and breastfeeding which it did not examine here, but also must be assessed.”
“We had reinstated this content prior to the decision, recognizing that it should not have been taken down,” the company told the Post. “We are constantly evaluating our policies to help make our platforms safer for everyone. We know more can be done to support the LGBTQ+ community, and that means working with experts and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations on a range of issues and product improvements.”
“We welcome the board’s decision in this case,” the concluded. Yeah, but what about the rest of us?
