Wethenipple: Dozens strip naked outside Facebook HQ in censorship protest

Dozens of people stripped naked outside Facebook's New York Headquarters on Sunday, in a protest against censorship policies adopted by the social media giant on artistic nudity.

The protest, organised by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and photographer/artist Spencer Tunick, is called #wethenipple. Demonstrators removed their clothes, lay on the sidewalk and used images of male nipples; which are acceptable on Facebook and Instagram, to cover their nipples and private parts.

In a tweet describing the protest piece, Tunick said there were "male nipple stickers covering female presenting nipples and male nipple cards covering all ... genitalia."

In a statement, the NCAC said, "The human body has always been a central subject of art. Its representations have evolved with technologies of expression: from cave drawings, to sculpture and painting, to photography and video."

"The nudity ban prevents many artists from sharing their work online," the NCAC said. “It particularly harms artists whose work focuses on their own bodies, including queer and gender-nonconforming artists, and the bodies of those in their communities. Museums and galleries are constrained when even promoting exhibitions featuring nudes."

In an open letter to Facebook, NCAC has asked for the formation of "group of globally representative stakeholders including artists, art educators, museum curators, activists, as well as Facebook employees, to develop guidelines that transparently balance the competing interests of the many different communities Facebook serves."