Facebook is courting controversy once again regarding its censorship policies. Not even historic sculptures are safe from the company’s muddled guidelines with the social network now targeting an image of a 16th-century nude statue of Neptune.
Italian art historian and writer Elisa Barbari uploaded the photo of the sea god — who can be seen atop his perch on the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna, Italy. However, when Barbari attempted to promote her Facebook page, the site objected to the photo, reports The Daily Telegraph.
“The use of the image was not approved because it violates Facebook’s guide lines on advertising,” Facebook told Barbari. “It presents an image with content that is explicitly sexual and which shows to an excessive degree the body, concentrating unnecessarily on body parts.
“The use of images or video of nude bodies or plunging necklines is not allowed, even if the use is for artistic or educational reasons.”
Whether it’s a case of Facebook’s machine learning object recognition software gone wrong or just another policy blunder on the company’s part is as yet unknown. For now, it’s safe to say that Barbari is not happy with the decision. Her Facebook cover image now includes the inscription: “Yes to Neptune, no to censorship.” She adds in another post: “How can a work of art, our Neptune, be the subject of censorship?”
A symbol of Bologna, the Fountain of Neptune overlooks Piazza Maggiore, the main square in the heart of the Italian city. The statue itself was created in the 1560s by Flemish sculptor Jean de Boulogne (also known by his nickname Giambologna).The trident Neptune is brandishing was later adopted by Italian car manufacturer Maserati as its logo.
It seems Facebook has learned little from its past mistakes concerning censorship. In November, the site removed and then restored the photo of a Swedish fireman who suffered permanent facial scarring as the result of an explosion at an oil depot 35 years ago. Earlier in 2016, the company backtracked by reinstating an iconic Vietnam War photo after initially removing it and suspending the user who posted it. In both cases, a public backlash forced the company to apologize and alter its position.
Discord is trying to push more visibility on the internet for some of its biggest communities, and there's a good chance your messages could end up in a Google Search. The platform is preparing to make conversations from certain public servers searchable on the web, so there's a privacy setting you might want to check before the rollout begins.
According to Discord's official announcement, the changes will roll out in two stages. Starting November 16, qualifying servers will have public web pages featuring automated summaries of conversations. By mid-December, individual messages from eligible public channels could also appear word-for-word in Google and other search engines.
You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.
Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?