The board overseeing Facebook and Instagram has told the platforms to change their 'confusing' policies about showing nipples

• Meta's Oversight Board told Instagram and Facebook to amend their nudity guidelines on Tuesday.
• The current rules on both platforms are confusing and "unworkable in practice," the board said.

Meta's Oversight Board is calling for an overhaul of Facebook and Instagram's nudity policies, saying rules around when female nipples can be shown are "confusing" in a statement on January 17.

The board is recommending an amendment to Meta's Adult Nudity guidelines and Sexual Activity Community Standard to "respect international human rights standards."

"The restrictions and exceptions to the rules on female nipples are extensive and confusing, particularly as they apply to transgender and non-binary people," it said.

"Exceptions to the policy range from protests to scenes of childbirth, and medical and health contexts, including top surgery and breast cancer awareness. These exceptions are often convoluted and poorly defined."

The lack of clarity around the policies is confusing and makes them "unworkable in practice," the board said.

The board's decision came after it overturned a decision by Instagram to remove two posts by a US-based non-binary and transgender couple. The posts — published in 2021 and 2022 — showed a picture of the couple bare-chested with their nipples covered. The caption said they were trying to raise funds for top surgery.

The posts were reported and removed for violating the Sexual Solicitation Community Standard because the pictures contained breasts and a link to a fundraising page.

The couple appealed to Meta and the board, and the board accepted the cases. Meta then said it had made an error and reinstated the posts.

"Here, the Board finds that Meta's policies on adult nudity result in greater barriers to expression for women, trans, and gender non-binary people on its platforms," the board said.

"It should change its approach to managing nudity on its platforms by defining clear criteria to govern the Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity policy, which ensure all users are treated in a manner consistent with human rights standards."

Meta did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about the Oversight Board's decision.

In 2021, the Oversight Board updated nudity policies on Facebook to allow for "health-related" nudity posts.

The Oversight Board's advisory comes amid a longstanding debate over the censorship of female nipples on social media, often referred to as the "free the nipple" movement.

Those in favour of displaying female nipples on social media argue that it is a double standard that bare chested males are generally shown without censorship, while women and trans and non-binary people are subject to numerous and convoluted prohibitions.

In 2018, Facebook executive Monika Bickert told reporters that its policies around bare chests on its platforms were generally about "safety."

"Fundamentally our nudity standards are about safety. It's very hard for us to determine the age of a person depicted in a nude image. It's also very hard for us to determine consent," she said.

In a statement sent to Insider Thursday, a Meta representative said: "We welcome the board's decision in this case. We had reinstated this content prior to the decision, recognizing that it should not have been taken down. We are constantly evaluating our policies to help make our platforms safer for everyone. We know more can be done to support the LGBTQ+ community, and that means working with experts and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations on a range of issues and product improvements."