Facebook’s Zuckerberg backs down in censorship outrage over iconic ‘napalm girl’ photo

FACEBOOK was forced to back down this evening after its decision to censor an iconic image from the Vietnam War sparked a furious backlash online.

The internet giant said the picture of a young girl fleeing a napalm attack breached its nudity policy, but now says it will allow it on the network.

The company stopped short of apologising, but said it recognises "the history and global importance of this image".

The U-turn came after a wave of global outrage as Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg was accused of "abusing his power" by censoring what users can see.

The row even involved the prime minister of Norway, who defied the ban by posting the image on her own page - which was then deleted.

Facebook sparked the row by taking down a post by Norwegian writer Tom Egeland that featured a series of famous images of conflicts - including The Terror of War.

Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize winning photo from 1972 shows screaming nine-year-old Kim Phuc naked after her clothes were burned off in a US napalm attack.

Egeland was suspended from Facebook, and when Norway's largest newspaper Aftenposten reported this using the same photo, Facebook ordered it to pixellate the image or take it down.

Editor Espen Egil Hansen published a front-page letter to Zuckerberg this morning saying: “I think you are abusing your power, and I find it hard to believe that you have thought it through thoroughly.”

He added: “I am upset, disappointed – well, in fact even afraid – of what you are about to do to a mainstay of our democratic society.

“I am worried that the world’s most important medium is limiting freedom instead of trying to extend it, and that this occasionally happens in an authoritarian way."

Hundreds of Facebook users around the world protested by reposting the image on their Facebook pages, including Norwegian PM Erna Solberg.

She wrote: "What Facebook is doing by deleting photos like this, as good as their intentions are, is to edit our common history.

"I say yes to healthy, open and free debate — online and wherever else we go. But I say no to this form of censorship.”

Her post was also deleted by Facebook.

Facebook had defended its stance as the row escalated, but backtracked this evening and reversed the ban.

It said: "An image of a naked child would normally be presumed to violate our Community Standards, and in some countries might even qualify as child pornography.

"In this case, we recognize the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time.

"Because of its status as an iconic image of historical importance, the value of permitting sharing outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal.

"We will be engaging with publishers and other members of our global community on these important questions going forward."