Twitter didn’t like this one, my Twitpic just disappeared:

Is this one ok, Twitter?

(I wonder if they will notice the little guys’ little thingies?)

——————————————————————————-

UPDATE: I guess it wasn’t ok with Twitter, because the 2nd Ingres Venus image, with the breast and genital covers in place, also disappeared from my Tweet. Once again, the image was somehow taken off the tweet (there’s a question mark in its place) with no notice to me or explanation. In their Terms of Service the only relevant language about offensive content I find is this, and the way I read it, it says that they don’t limit content and it’s a “let the viewer beware” policy regarding whatever they might stumble across, which is how I think an intelligent culture should approach the issue of censorship in the public forum:

“We do not endorse, support, represent or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any Content or communications posted via the Services or endorse any opinions expressed via the Services. You understand that by using the Services, you may be exposed to Content that might be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate, or in some cases, postings that have been mislabeled or are otherwise deceptive. Under no circumstances will Twitter be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any Content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed, transmitted or otherwise made available via the Services or broadcast elsewhere“

UPDATE to UPDATE: Apparently it’s Twitpic that is doing the image removal. From their terms of service: “TwitPic reserves the right to remove any image for any reason whatsoever. Specifically, any image uploaded that is pornographic or offensive in nature (including nudity, violence, sexual acts, or sexually provocative images.), infringes upon copyrights not held by the uploader, is illegal or violates any laws, will be immediately deleted and the IP address of the uploaded reported to authorities. Violating these terms may result in termination of your ability to upload further images. We reserve the right to ban any individual uploader or website domain from using our services for any reason.”

Twitpic’s reply to my request for explanation: “Thanks for contacting Twitpic. The photo was deleted as it was in violation of Twitpic’s TOS http://twitpic.com/terms.do It is a beautiful painting however, to be user friendly for all our users we have to have guidelines of what is allowed. While some will appreciate this beautiful art work others may be offended because of nudity.”

UPDATING, Again: I was able to Tweet the Ingres Venus photo directly via Twitter (without Twitpic) and so far it has not been taken down—different standards apparently. This tiny exploration of the way art images are censored by social media was initiated due to the removal of images on Facebook pages of some of the participants of the Breast Cancer Awareness Body Painting Project.

• What really bothers me about this… (thestorybehindthefaces.com)