Facebook and Instagram to allow topless photos exclusively for transgender, ‘non-binary’ users

AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, file

On Tuesday, a U.S.-based transgender and non-binary couple were successful in their appeal against Facebook and Instagram, after an oversight board overturned the decision by Meta, the social media platform's owner, to remove two posts that showed the couple's bare breasts.

This reversal of the decision will allow all transgender and non-binary users to be able to post topless images without fear of censorship from the tech giant, Daily Wire reported.

The board who oversees Meta commissioned independent researchers who argued that the Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity Community Standard should be amended to respect international human rights standards, as it currently prohibits images containing female nipples other than in specified circumstances, such as for protest, birth giving, after birth, and breastfeeding, which it did not examine.

Board members said that the policy text is based on a “binary view of gender and a distinction between male and female bodies,” which makes it “unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary and transgender people, as it requires reviewers to make rapid and subjective assessments of sex and gender.”

The board then recommended that Meta rely on “human reviewers” to quickly assess both a user’s sex, as the policy applies to “female nipples,” and their gender identity.

In response to the board's decision, a spokesperson for Meta told Fox News that the platform welcomed it, and that they had already reinstated the content prior to the decision.

The spokesperson also announced that they are committed to working with experts and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups on a range of product improvements to better support the LGBTQ+ community.