An uncensored image from Sean Capone’s Facebook feed.
Is the US presidential election putting many of its citizens on edge? The daily headlines are terrible, each bringing a new revelation more shocking than the next. The stakes could not be more dire and conversation more urgent.
In reaction to these times, though, perhaps many us of block friends dissenting friends on Facebook or silence comments we don’t want to hear. Under these conditions, Facebook can seem a bit more like a police state. Prolific artist, Facebook user (and now blogger) Sean Capone speculated that this was indeed the case in an email this morning informing AFC that he’d been banned from Facebook for three days. The offending update? A picture he’d posted from a Larry Clark show at Luhring Augustine back in 2014.
“While I’m normally laissez-faire about the whole “Facebook censorship” thing… this time there was an added twist that went RATHER too far.” Capone told us. “Before I could even view the site again, Facebook made me run a gauntlet of self-incriminating censorship, requesting I police and delete my own photo albums and check a box declaring that my feed is “clean””
As war-torn soldiers in the Facebook censorship wars, AFC has had this same experience—we’ve been booted off numerous times for our NSFW GIF of the Hump Day. In our latest altercation this past winter we were asked to provide government issued ID only to have it rejected because the company suspected it was fake. It was not and the matter was later resolved.
According to Carolina Miranda’s report on how social media affects art this June, Facebook relies on its users to flag offending posts—not a heat seeking naked butt algorithm. This helps to explain why the censorship can seem so random—the paintings of an erect penis and a slightly open anus weren’t flagged by users—just the Larry Clark image.
The fact that someone has gone through two years of Capone’s photos is probably good news for Facebook—engagement is high. But the side effects of this engagement can embitter burned users. “Maybe I’m just overly sensitive because of all the open fascism-on-parade during this election year?” the artist mused. He then announced his payback plan. “I just wanted to warn folks that when my three days of this childishly punitive “sitting in the corner without any supper” is through, I will devote the remainder of my time on Facebook to posting pictures of the hardest, wettest, raunchiest cocks I can find, everywhere I can, until Facebook terminates my account altogether.”
A noble cause, but the desired result is all but assured to fail. Up until recently Facebook wouldn’t even terminate accounts of the dead.
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