Given the elbow: Facebook remove risqué picture of blonde woman reclining in bathtub (whatever did they think it was?)

At first glance this picture of a naked woman reclining in a bathtub may seem rather risqué.

But it is in fact completely innocent. The only nudity visible is her shoulder and her elbow, although it is posed to appear inappropriate.

Yet that was enough for Facebook to censor it from their site.

Banned: Web magazine Theories of the Deep Understanding of Things up loaded this picture to test Facebook's terms of service

The snap was uploaded by web magazine Theories of the Deep Understanding of Things to test how the social network's terms of service deal with pictures that are misleading.

It posed the question of whether the photo-sharing website content policies are based on indecency or the mere appearance of indecency.

 

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However, it didn't take long for the social network to quickly take the photo down for violating the service’s terms.

The magazine wrote on its Facebook page: 'So, here's last night’s FB alertness test results: FB moderators can't tell an elbow from a dangerous, filthy, uncanny and violent female breast.

Strict: In the past, Facebook has banned mothers from posting photos of themselves breastfeeding their children

'No questions were asked and the post is down. Imagine our surprise.'

The test follows a series of protests over Facebook's policy on pictures of women breast-feeding.

Facebook has banned mothers from posting photos of themselves breastfeeding their children. The decision to remove the 'inappropriate' photos has caused protests by women's groups.

The social networking site, which recently announced its one billionth sign-up, claimed that those images which show too much breast violate its terms and conditions.

It has warned that users who continue to post photos which it deems inappropriate could lose their access to the site.

NO SEX, BUT CRUSHED HEADS ARE OK: FACEBOOK'S MODERATION POLICIES

The latest Facebook moderation gaffe highlights the social network's zealous but inconsistent efforts to eliminate so-called 'graphic content' from the site.

Breastfeeding mothers have protested against the site for blocking photos of them feeding their babies because they are 'inappropriate', while many other graphic pictures remain uncensored.

More recently there was outrage at Facebook's moderators for blocking pictures of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza while similar pictures showing the effect of Hamas rocket attacks remained available.

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Facebook is moderated by workers in Morocco and other developing countries paid $1 an hour via an online outsourcing company called oDesk, one of whose aggrieved workers leaked details of policies, pictured above, earlier this year. 

The Moroccan former employee published a document distributed to contractors which revealed it tells staff to delete all forms of sexual activity, even simulated activity where there was nothing explicit on show.

Yet deep wounds, excessive blood and 'crushed heads, limbs etc' are allowed - 'as long as no insides are showing'.

The staff working for oDesk are further instructed that Facebook will not condone 'slurs or racial comments of any kind', and that any such comments should be deleted as soon as possible. 

However, they should be allowed to stay online if the comments are made in a humorous or ironic way.

The 'cheat sheet' of rules are part of a larger 17-page guidebook given to oDesk by Facebook, providing advice for employees on what to do when screening photographs, text and videos that have been 'flagged' for removal by one of Facebook’s 850 million users.

Facebook runs community guidelines on its own site, but they are perhaps purposefully vague when compared to the crystal clear instructions given to oDesk employees.

Online, Facebook says that it wants to share people's lives, but draws the line at 'inappropriately graphic content' - leaving the user to draw his or her conclusions as to what is considered too graphic.

At oDesk, nothing is left to the imagination. Urine, faeces, vomit, semen and - strangely - ear wax are not allowed.