Birth Photographer Says Facebook Removed 'Birth Becomes Her' Video

A birth photographer alleged that Facebook removed her "Birth Becomes Her" video without notice for being in violation of its community guidelines. The viral video, which attracted more than 100 million views after it was shared to Facebook on May 2017, depicted mothers meeting their newborn babies for the first time.

Denver-based birth photographer Monet Nicole Moutrie detailed why she was banned Saturday from Facebook in a blog post dubbed "Dear Facebook," despite the fact that the video doesn't contain a trace of nudity.

"Yesterday evening, as I was nursing my daughter, I got logged out of Facebook," Moutrie wrote Sunday in a blog post. "As soon as it happened, I knew what it meant. I logged back in and was prompted to go through all of my photos and to select any with nudity. Of course, there was none."

"For some reason, after this video was viewed and shared by millions of people around the world for over six months, Facebook decided that these moments were no longer worth seeing. Even though these moments do, in fact, follow the nudity standards," Moutrie added.

Facebook's community standards on adult nudity and sexual activity are restrictive against certain displays that depict nudity.

"We remove photographs of people displaying genitals or focusing in on fully exposed buttocks," Facebook's website read. "We also restrict some images of female breasts if they include the nipple, but our intent is to allow images that are shared for medical or health purposes. We also allow photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring."

"We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures. Restrictions on the display of sexual activity also apply to digitally created content unless the content is posted for educational, humorous, or satirical purposes," the policy continued.

Facebook also doesn't allow for users to post explicit images of sexual intercourse or detailed descriptions of sexual acts.

"I don't understand this at all. But I'm saddened and quite honestly scared that the important work we're doing will be stifled and hidden behind false statements like 'community,'" Moutrie wrote. "There is nothing more antithetical to community than the restriction and censorship of birth, family and life."

The video was mistakenly pulled from Facebook by a member of its review team after receiving reports that video's content was in violation of its community standards.

"We're very sorry about this mistake. We know that it's important for mothers to be able to share their experiences with others on Facebook," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement issued to International Business Times. "The video was removed in error and restored as soon as we were able to investigate. Our team processes millions of reports each week, and sometimes we get things wrong."

This story was updated to include a statement from Facebook.