Facebook apologizes to birth photographer
Facebook has issued a public apology for disabling the account of an Iowa photographer who specializes in photographs of pregnant women and women just after they have given birth.
Laura Eckert, owner of a business called New Creation Photography & Design, has posted a number of her photos of women in the moments just after birth on Facebook. She says she has always been careful to stay within the photo guidelines of the social networking giant, but that has not kept Facebook from giving her grief in the past. Facebook had warned her about their “no-nudity” policy when she posted photos of a post-birth mother, showing the tops of her breasts, though well above the nipple. Then, last week, Facebook notified her that they had removed some of her photos from the site.
When Eckert went to Facebook to see what had been removed, she found that her account had been disabled, according to a story on All Facebook. This made life difficult for Eckert, who uses Facebook to communicate with her clients and to publicize her work. Eckert tried to work with Facebook, writing at least 30 emails to find out what she had done wrong. None of those emails were ever answered. Finally, after some of her supporters on Facebook started a group to protest the way she was being treated, and after Eckert was interviewed by a local television station, Facebook woke up.
Eckert’s account was re-enabled and Facebook apologized. A spokesman for Facebook has said, “Of course, we make an occasional mistake. This is an example. When this happens, and it’s brought to our attention, we work quickly to resolve the issue.” Working quickly has nothing to do with it, especially not after ignoring over 30 emails. Facebook finally responded when it appeared they were going to look bad in the press, which they richly deserved. Up until that point, the company was its typical high-handed self, automatically taking their own side against yet another user. When are people going to learn?
