Facebook banned a photo of some onions for being too ‘SEXY’
STAFF at a Canadian garden centre were left in stitches last week after Facebook blocked a photo of onions for being "overtly sexual".
The offending image, posted to the official Facebook page of Gaze Seed Company, showed a handful of white onions placed in a wicker basket.
But after one of the shop's 10,000 page members reported the snap as inappropriate to Facebook, the California tech titan swooped into action.
"So we just got notified by Facebook that the photo used for our Walla Walla Onion seed is 'Overtly Sexual'," Gaze's wrote on its official Facebook page on Saturday.
"[The photo] therefore cannot be advertised to be sold on their platform... [laughing emoji] Can you see it? Bunch of dirty minds over there."
The company, based in Newfoundland, posted the comments alongside the photo in question, as well as a screengrab of Facebook's response.
Facebook polices offensive content on its platform using a mix of human moderators and artificial intelligence.
If someone reports an image, the photo is scanned by algorithms which determine whether or not it breaks the app's terms of service.
In many cases, the content is removed without a moderator ever laying eyes on it. The system is fairly accurate, but not perfect.
In the case of Gaze's post, it appears robot content checkers presumed it featured far lewder material than mere onions.
"Listings may not position products or services in a sexually suggestive manner," an automated message sent to the firm by Facebook read.
The company did not elaborate on what, exactly, was deemed sexual.
“We got notified the other day that it’s an ‘overtly sexual image’ that they had to ban from the site,” Gaze manager Jackson McLean told .
"I guess something about the two round shapes there could be misconstrued as boobs or something, nude in some way.”
It was a minor inconvenience for whoever runs the account, but at least fans of The Seed Company were able to see the funny side.
One Facebook user commented under the post: "Onions? I have seen some posts of carrots that might be questionable."
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Another wrote: "Wow. I see more half naked people while scrolling but actual onions...hilarious. you can't make this stuff up!"
Others chimed in with their own frustrating experiences with Facebook's less-than-perfect moderation tools.
"I’m 70 and have had three posts removed for the most silliest of reasons, one was a funny post about garlic!" one commenter wrote.
They added: "And, yet, I see some of the most hateful posts on Facebook daily."
Facebook later rescinded its ban on the photo and apologised for the confusion.
A spokesperson told The Sun: "We use automated technology to keep nudity off our apps, but sometimes it doesn’t know a walla walla onion from a, well, you know.
"We restored the ad and are sorry for the business’ trouble.”
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