Facebook faced a barrage of criticism following its decision to censor the iconic 'Napalm girl' picture. The social network responded to the outrage by reviewing its stance and eliminating its restriction on the picture. The Pulitzer prize winning picture depicts a naked girl running away from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War.
The controversy started after the social networking giant deleted the picture from Norwegian author Tom Egeland's Facebook page. Egeland's account was later suspended after he posted his stunned reaction to the deletion of the picture.
Espen Egil Hansen, the editor of a Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, took up the story. He received an email from Facebook, asking him to remove the picture. However, the social network assumed a suo motu stance and deleted the picture. According to CNN, the move prompted Hansen to send an open letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The fracas grew even bigger when Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg criticized Facebook for curtailing freedom of expression. According to NBC News, Solberg posted a series of historically significant pictures and self-censored the central point of each picture.
"If you edit past events or people, you change history and you change reality," she stated.
Facebook has said that it is trying "to find the right balance between enabling people to express themselves while maintaining a safe and respectful experience for our global community."