Australian jeweller fights Facebook censorship

Posted July 06, 2010 |

Sydney jeweller Victoria Buckley has lashed out at “Midwest American puritanism” on Facebook after the social networking site threatened action against her for having pictures of nude porcelain dolls on her fan page.

The dolls are pictured posing with the jeweller’s products and feature in A3 posters that form part of Buckley’s visual merchandising displays in her George Street store windows.

Buckley was bombarded by warnings from Facebook over the weekend, which said the pictures of the dolls constituted "inappropriate content" and breached the site's terms of service. The high-end porcelain figures show little more than nipples.

A frustrated Buckley told Jeweller: “It just takes one click from one Midwest American puritan and the whole [online marketing campaign] gets taken down.”

Facebook has removed the offending images from her fan page, but Buckley has posted them on a new Facebook group called “Save Ophelia - exquisite doll censored by Facebook".

Buckley told Jeweller: “I don’t care if they close this group down but I do care if they close my fan page down.”

On the “Save Ophelia” page, she says: “I feel I have a right to photograph my jewellery with Ophelia [the doll] as I see fit. Facebook disagrees with this, because, even if hundreds of people appreciate what you do, it only takes ONE complaint to have the whole thing taken down.

“We are talking about representations of nipples - not photos of real women. The nude painting of Chloe at Young and Jackson's hotel in Melbourne was a big controversy 100 years ago, because she was a realistic nude. Are we really still stuck in 1909?”

Buckley said she is still waiting for a response from Facebook.

Jeweller approached Facebook for comment.

More reading: Facebook continues to censor Australian jeweller

> See the August issue of Jeweller magazine for Victoria Buckley’s view on Australian design innovation.