The Christmas cards Facebook banned

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A British artist’s Christmas cards were recently banned from Facebook for having “adult content.”

Adult content? That’s prude-speak for sex.

The banned cards showed a robin, a stag, and a squirrel, none of them doing anything unconventional for Christmas cards, although in fairness these are creatures who, in the normal course of their lives will either have sex or at least try to.

So why the ban? The artist says she didn’t even describe the robin as being a red[gasp]breast, just a robin. She’s tried to get Facebook to reconsider but you can pretty well guess how well that’s worked.

It could be that the decision-making algorithm looked at some of her other cards. One reads, “No / Fucking / Ho.” But that’s not the one she was promoting, Still, thought the algorithm, There’s got to be something wrong with that robin.

The artist has a disabled husband and selling her work is a major source of income, so however funny the ban is, it’s also serious. If you’d like to see her work–or even buy some in the interest of supporting her and annoying Facebook, you can find it here.

And if that link doesn’t work, try this one. It’s her Facebook page, with no robin except where it’s part of an article on this whole flap. The link in the last paragraph worked when I first put it up, then when I checked took me to something completely irrelevant. I’ve corrected it but don’t know how long it will work this time; it’s not just Facebook; Google’s also got it in for this woman.

49 thoughts on “The Christmas cards Facebook banned”

  3. It seems the the minds (AI?) at FB are doing all sorts of weird things. An Author friend of mine (Andra Watkins) is having similar difficulties with her posts being hidden and held for a King’s ransom.

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  5. It’s true the cards with the stag, the robin and the squirrel don’t have any sexual content, but I really wouldn’t want the others popping up at me on FB. I’ll admit to being a bit old-fashioned about what I like to see on Christmas cards and naked women don’t even appear on the list.

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    • As I understand it, those weren’t the ones she was promoting on Facebook–just three very neutral, traditional ones. Surely an artist’s range shouldn’t limit where she can promote her more conventional work.

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  7. I’ve always had a decidedly negative opinion of FB. In way back times I signed on and came across a ‘friend’ posting about changing a diaper! That pretty much ended it for me. Just recently I emailed a friend commenting about an attachment she had sent and Google interrupted my attempt to ‘send’ by asking if I had forgotten to attach said attachment. Very creepy feeling to think that every word I type is being monitored. Perhaps I’m getting to an age of curmudgeonhood, but this trend just feels so wrong.

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    • I don’t know details, but I heard a radio news snippet about a couple of academics who were able to do a personality profile from a single Facebook page like, and it was accurate enough to boost the effectiveness of targeted ads. It’s enough to make you want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over your head.

      I was just emailed an ad for discounted jeans. I was about to click the link when I remembered I have enough jeans. I’m telling you, they’re inside our heads.

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