AustLit

'Reasons to dislike Facebook are not hard to find, but its recent censorship of the iconic image of Vietnamese girl Kim Phuc (running from a napalm attack on her village) was a gift to critics of the social media platform. When author Tom Egeland posted an image of the ‘Napalm Girl’ alongside other photos that ‘changed the history of warfare’, Facebook removed the post, citing community standards about images of naked children. Egeland’s subsequent posts about the photo were also removed. Norway’s largest newspaper reported Egeland’s story (using the photo in question), only to find its coverage also deleted from Facebook. It took an open letter from the newspaper’s editor and pressure from print media around the globe to force Facebook to reinstate the photo. Facebook’s ban on a historic image considered important in mobilising anti-war sentiment because it couldn’t distinguish between photojournalism and pornography, and its subsequent censorship of any discussion of this decision, did nothing to assuage fears of its growing power and lack of judgement.' (Introduction)