Facebook banned a mother from using her social media profile after photos of her mentally-disabled son were flagged as “inappropriate” and a violation of Facebook’s terms of use.
“Never upload any photos that contain hate speech, support for violent organizations or threats to harm others,” Facebook told North Carolina woman Diana Cornwell after she posted images of her son, who has Down’s Syndrome, participating in a Special Olympics event.
When Cornwell removed a photo of her son, Facebook sent her a “thank you” message, and informed her she wouldn’t have access to her account for three days.
She does not know if Facebook or a third-party flagged the pictures. “To flag an entire album and Facebook just to write it off as no big deal and allow it to be flagged and told to remove pictures just astounds me,” she told local media.
Care2, a social networking website, criticized Facebook in a civil rights post. “Facebook is showing a deep degree of insensitivity to special needs children and their families, by charging Cornwell with ‘violating’ the site’s terms and requesting that she remove her photos of Cole,” Care2 argued. “Such censorship of photos of children having a happy experience at a Special Olympics event is simply uncalled for, and troubling.”