ART AND CENSORSHIP IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Artsy’s team of editors takes you behind the scenes of the best stories in art.

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 Cover image: Gustave Courbet, L’Origine du monde, 1866, at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Photo by Daniele Dalledonne, via Flickr.

In May, documents leaked to the Guardian offered an unprecedented glimpse into Facebook’s inner workings: How do they think about moderating a range of controversial subjects, from violence to pornography?

But those in the art world were particularly interested in the handful of slides detailing the social media giant’s policy on nudity in works of art. Facebook and Instagram have long been criticized for removing artwork containing nudity, a practice many interpret as censorship. On this episode, we dive into social media’s new role as the gatekeeper of what we see—and why fixing this system may prove to be impossible.

This podcast is hosted by Artsy Associate Editor Isaac Kaplan, joined for this edition by Features Producer Molly Gottschalk and Senior Staff Engineer Orta Therox. It was produced by Editorial Associate Abigail Cain.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-art-censorship-age-social-media