Facebook Sorry for Deleting Family Photo of Newborn With Brain Defect
- Posted on May 21, 2012 at 8:53am by
Liz Klimas
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Heather Walker posted a photo of her son, now deceased from complications of a birth defect, on Facebook and was blocked from the site. Facebook now apologizes. (Photo: Our Sweet Boy Grayon/Blogspot)
Like many a proud mother, Heather Walker posted a photo of her newborn on Facebook. Soon thereafter though, her photo was taken down and her account blocked for 24 hours. Now, Facebook is apologizing for taking down a family photo that never should have been considered in violation of its policies.
(Related: Facebook bans mother for posting photos of baby born with severe birth defect)
Grayson James Walker was born the morning of Feb. 15, 2012, with a rare disorder that caused him to be born without a large part of his brain. By evening of the same day he had passed away. His mother has been mourning his death and keeping up her thoughts on a blog describing the family’s journey with anencephaly.
(Photo: Our Sweet Boy Grayon/Blogspot)
The Memphis mom of three actually waited until just this month to post her first photo of Grayson on the social networking site. On her blog, she explains she was ”tired of trying to hide my son, the way he was, just to make others feel comfortable.“ She at first felt ”people would be scared or offended“ by his appearance but in a ”sudden impulse” of being a proud mother, she posted the photo.
The next time she logged onto Facebook, her initial fears were confirmed as she found a message saying content on her page had been blocked. Heather was offended, hurt and angry. That’s when she decided to post a comment about her frustration and it snowballed from there. Heather was interviewed by local media and the story spread. Watch this local Fox report:
“Not long after, Facebook deleted them because of the content,” she told WMC-TV at the time. “They allow people to post almost nude pictures of themselves, profanity, and so many other things but I‘m not allowed to share a picture of God’s beautiful creation.”
This isn‘t the first time Facebook has accidentally blocked content that didn’t in fact violate its extensive photo policies. Earlier this year, the Blaze reported on a leaked guidance document for third-parties that Facebook hires to review content for potential violations. Many bodily substances are considered “abuse standards violations” and some injuries, if insides are showing, are banned as well. Many of these third-party moderators, Gawker originally reported, are working for companies overseas.
But Facebook has now had a change of heart and Heather and her husband Patrick received what they were looking for: an apology and condolences from the Facebook team. Heather wrote, “It made mine and Patrick’s day and took the burden of offense off our shoulders. That was never our intention in the first place.”
In a statement, Facebook acknowledged that in reviewing more than 300 million photos uploaded to the site a day,moderators occasionally make a mistake.
[H/T Radar Online]
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Comments (60)
Dan19uk
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 7:20amAllowing a child to be born with a FATAL birth defect is more disgusting to me than FB users reporting a photo. (it had its hat removed, who wants to see a baby missing most of its skull and brain)
She had the option of abortion, she knew he was going to die, she knew he was missing parts of his brain, she still had him with this knowledge, THAT is messed up.
I expect no less from religion or a FB user though.
Rational Man
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 9:32amMaybe your parents would have aborted you if they had known you were going to be a
b u t t h e a d. You are more offensive to me than this baby or his family.
I expect no less from a ‘joker’ though……………
Report Post »glassbeadlady
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 11:36amagree!
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 12:40pmI see you are a supporter of Eugenics. Perhaps you’ll change your mind when they decide to get rid of you because of your stupidity. Remember, the ones who help the Muslims take over (or communists, or whatever ists) will be the first to become cannon fodder.
Report Post »I support God's Israel!
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 1:41pmThis is EXACTLY why you do not want to be involved or belong to ANY SOCIAL NETWORKING APPS. They MONITOR EVERYTHING YOU SAY AND DO, including this current Administration in the White House. BEWARE.
And just because you have nothing to hide is NOT a reason to continue supporting Facebook. THEY ARE INFRINGING ON YOUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND PRIVACY. So get rid of your dumb social networking sites and just call the person or email them.
FACEBOOK IS A MARXIST-BACKED web site. Nothing is private UNTIL you make it private by just not buying into the hype.
Report Post »I support God's Israel!
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 1:43pmYou are messed up. While it is your right to express your opinion, please make sure you are not ignorant of the facts. The fact is, IT WAS HER DECISION TO HAVE THIS BABY AND HER DECISION NOT TO MURDER IT, as maybe you would by your comments. God bless her for having that baby!
Report Post »Copper Catfish
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 5:22pmHow disgusting of you not to love this innocent child! He could not help the way he turned out. You, on the other hand, have chosen to be ugly. May God help you.
Report Post »goengo
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 5:34pmYour comments show your ignorance. You say that the mother had the option to abort her child. For some of us, abortion is NEVER an option, as it involves the killing of an unborn child.
I was in a similar situation myself many years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter. I chose LIFE, not murder, and my daughter is alive and well with two daughters of her own!
Report Post »MykidsDad68
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:29amI was happy to see so much support for the mother on the original story. The majority of the comments were very positive. Dan19UK, it is a fact that a baby with this type of a defect will eventually die. It is also a fact that YOU will eventually die, Grayson’s mother chose to allow him whatever amount of time God had planned for him on this earth, yet this baby in his short life has touched more hearts that you ever could. Change your heart, Dan, value life, don’t waste your time with such negativity, because sooner or later we all leave this life, and the only thing that will matter is how we treated others. Ask yourself this each day, and your life will become meaningful. Have I done any good in the world today?
Report Post »Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?
firemanfrank
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 12:01amThet should e ashamed of themselves!!! I wish my wife would delete her account. When the photos that facebook now OWNS of my kid has his picture plastered on some billboard for some pro-abortion or some other left wing agenda there will be nothing we can do. Technology is moving faster than society can keep up with.
Report Post »I support God's Israel!
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 1:46pmPretty soon, it will be ONLY the leftist progressive who will have a Facebook account because NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND, will. Therefore, let the progressive ignorant idiots keep their account, then it will be all the people LOOKING IN AT THEM IN THEIR CAGES.
Facebook is very good friends with the Obama Administration. If that isn’t enough to make you cancel your account, then you deserve what you get.
Report Post »nobammy
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 5:48pmincredible! just another reason why i don’t have a facebook account… may God bless this family.
Report Post »TJexcite
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 5:02pmJust remember the only service that Facebook does is computer server space and a fancy interface code. Million of Terabytes information storage that they use to send you ads that you do not click.
Report Post »bluegrandma52
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 4:55pmEverybody needs to realize the FB owns everything that’s posted, you don’t. You aren’t even consumers; FB provides the service and advertisers pay to post their ads. You don’t pay anything, so you don’t own anything. FB generally tries to keep you happy, so you’ll continue to look at the ads that have been paid for, but, subject to privacy laws and their own arcane rules, they can do what they want with anything you put up on FB. It’s nothing “wicked” or “evil”, just good business, and you are perfectly free to use the service or not. But be aware that the only thing you “own” is that which you pay for. Nothing is “free”.
Report Post »lefty5005
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 5:14pmWhat you say if very true which is why I am not on Facebook and never will be. I don’t go to movies with outspoken Hollywood types (hard to find one anymore) don’t buy S&W firearms because they sold out about a decade ago when the gun lobby was pressured, don’t buy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, will not live in a blue state, fortunately I have this option, refuse to bank with BOA (why does anyone use anything other than credit unions is beyond me), will not travel Spirit and a few other airlines at all. All it would take is 70 million conservative Americans to use their pocketbooks as a voice and I promise things would change immediately. Again, this goes back to the saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” If we could get 100 million Americans not to file income taxes that problem would be resolved also. The problem is conservatives and TEA party members are the very people that support this country and make it work. We don’t protest, rarely are we outspoken, we obey the law and are generally nice and kind humans as opposed to the other side.
Report Post »WTFHappenedToTheUSA
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 2:45pmGod bless Heather, Patrick and Grayson, forget the Facebook part of the story, what a heart wrenching story in and of itself.
Report Post »ColoradoMaverick
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 2:07pmHe is in a better place now, God bless his soul.
Report Post »Shackleford
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 2:54amI would have rather god blessed him with a functioning body and the family with a healthy baby. But let’s jump through some hoops to brush off this tragedy as being some sort of blessing from god while then also praising god for giving a perfectly healthy baby to the family in the next room.
Report Post »Homeschoolmama
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 1:58pmAnother story with the video link covering part of it. Can this please be fixed? I‘m sure the write didn’t take the time to type out the words just to have them hidden.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 1:40pmHmm, I wonder if this story made the stocks drop. Facebook stocks dropped about $4 from 38 to 34 or thereabout.
Ain’t the Internet great.
Report Post »I support God's Israel!
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 1:48pmJust peachy, especially when it comes to Facebook. I see FAILURE written all over it.
Report Post »truff
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 1:38pmi’m not sure why someone would want to put their personal info out there like this, but that being said, i’m glad this story got out. my heart goes out to that family and losing their son, brother, ..
and what momrules said, more of us got to know your son and his short, blessed life thru the actions of fb.
which sucks bytheway.
Report Post »Charybdis
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 1:09pmThey didn’t just make one mistake. They repeated the “mistake” multiple times and then banned the mom for a day because of it.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 12:32pmMy heart goes out to this family.
I am more concerned with WHO is buying FB stock & who FB aligning themselves with. People all around the world are voluntarily joining FB so as to be monitored. Imagine what would happen if some gov’t decided to “analyze” the data on FB and act on such information.
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 11:59amThe Stasi would love Facebook.
Report Post »crawgator406
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 11:54amwell goes to show that God does punish the wicked there IPO is dropping like a rock.
Report Post »Jennifer_D
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 11:48amIt is nice that FB is “sorry” for deleting an innocent baby’s photo. However; that doesn’t address the underlying issue here: FB is selecting photos to delete based on their arbitrary preferences. The only other explanation is that someone on this woman’s FB friends list reported the photo. In either case this is abuse of this woman’s right to post a photo of her child on her account.
I agree with the poster that stated that FB is like a Kingdom. People need to wise up and stop displaying their lives on it. These are the private details of your life. Do we really need to share these things with strangers on FB? Surely there are more appropriate mediums for a child’s memorial.
Report Post »SammyStutsfruckle
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 11:30amFacebook isn’t sorry. They’re just sorry they got caught and this information was made public, especially during their IPO. All some PC a-hole needs to do is report the pic and you’re banned.
Report Post »sldjulius
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 11:17amAll this story does is encourage people to judge all things by the almighty Facebook, yet again!! Nothing really happens until it happened on Facebook. What Facebook does or doesn’t do is not the most important news of the day people!!!!! Stop giving them so much power!!!
Report Post »jamesctheman
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 11:42amIn some peoples view it is censorship. When kill Zimmerman or kill the Jews pages come up they stay open & users are free to download all the content they want onto those pages. Murders, child porn pages & a host of other indecency reins on FB. When something like this comes out it makes you wonder what exactly the agenda is. If people are veiwing the uploads they would have seen so many photos & links to all kinds of horrendous sites that pass the checks. When a newborn who died has their picture censored it was just a mistake. I call BS. Now lets move on to the other stories.
Report Post »Snake
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 11:01amFACEBOOK is not free speech. FACEBOOK is a kingdom run by a king and his minons or also known as spoiled little brats (now rich spoiled little brats). They will let you see and talk about what they want you to see and talk about. They will back track anytime they get too much bad publicity, otherwise they will contune to push their ideals on anyone they can get away with!!
Report Post »duketurner
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 10:37amIt seems like Facebook has policies leaning toward Eugenics or at least seem to support it. The Nazi party also had these policies. “The fundamental tenet of the eugenics movement was that restricting the ability of “inferior” people to procreate whilst maximizing that of “superior” individuals, would benefit society. Attention was focused on the feebleminded (an inaccurate term covering everything from mental retardation to alcoholism), labelled as idiots, imbeciles, or morons.” I feel removing pics is just the first step in the propaganda against who Facebook deems inferior people.
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/euthan/index.html
I know the Nazi party USA supports the Democrat party, but why don’t democrats see they are moving toward repeating history. First its removing pics from facebooks, then its forcing them into institutions, then……..well just read the history books and you know how this ends.
I closed my FB account a long time ago once I realized how evil they really are. If people don’t complain, FB will continue their march toward their obviously desired conclusion. This lady only got her voice heard because of her local media. I bet there are thousands of similar cases that FB gets away with.
Report Post »YouGottaProblemWithThat
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 10:57amMark Z’burg is much smarter than most think. He realizes that “there is no there there”. FB could be easily duplicated and there is no real product or unique essence to FB that creates value. He and others are taking the money and running and history will bear me out. Put it on your calendar, and you heard it here first. FB will be gone soon…….
Report Post »VanceUppercut
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 10:58am@duketurner
“It seems like Facebook has policies leaning toward Eugenics or at least seem to support it.”
???
Report Post »zoro51
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 9:53amone must wonder whom is really working at face book mark zuxkerberg or aa 12 yr old?? making decisions that are wrong stupid n daft.. constantly screwing others on face book and making changes that only effect facebooks bank account rather than LISTENING to thier subscribers….. seems to wonder whom is REALLY running the show… now thier ipo is crap.. OH WELL mark loses again,…
Report Post »Papadoc
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 10:10amAfter the story goes viral and national, FB sees the light. All part of the liberal PR handbook. If you’re caught, it wasn’t you. If it was you, then apologize. If it sounds really bad, apologize in public. If you’re finances will be affected, go get therapy and be cured. Case over! Move on!
Report Post »duketurner
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 10:42amMark doesn’t lose because he already won. FB already got the money they wanted. Secondary Shareholders lose if they bought on Friday. If you saw the list of pre-IPO shareholders who planned to and did cash out on day one, you will see MZ on that list. He cashed out, is set for life, and still controls the company. If FB goes, he rides off into the sunset a billionaire. That should have been common sense for everyone. If the founder of the company plans to sell a large stake in the company he created, you might want to think twice about buying.
Report Post »troymac20
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 1:39pmone must wonder whom is really working at face book mark zuxkerberg or aa 12 yr old??
In this case probably the 12 yr old. FB uses a third party to monitor photos. So if the 12 yr old in Bangladesh is not clear on what is allowed, this is what happens.
Report Post »Jezreel
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 9:52amThat is a true woman of God. She chose what was right and our walk with Christ is NOT an easy one. People want a religion that they can be “comfortable” in. It is like those who choose to believe in the “rapture”. It is the easy way and the comfortable way out.
Report Post »WillyGRedneck
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 9:38amGod Bless this family! And That’s one of many reasons i stopped using FACEBOOK
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 9:34amGod bless this family and their beautiful little boy.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 9:29amAmazing how the “sorry”s come out after publicity hits. The mother’s response shows, yet again, the beauty of her heart. So nice to see God’s goodness reflected in these parents. Many blessings upon them!
Heather wrote, “It made mine and Patrick’s day and took the burden of offense off our shoulders. That was never our intention in the first place.”
Report Post »momrules
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 9:23amIt’s OK Heather. By deleting the photos of your precious baby and by you bringing to the public what Facebook had done, many, many people got to meet your son that otherwise would not have.
The photos of you, your husband and Grayson were a blessing to me and to many people around the country. This baby and what happened with FB served a purpose.
Paraphrasing but………….All things work to the good for those that love the Lord.
Report Post »webster1234
Posted on May 21, 2012 at 10:01amI shorted Faceplant, um, I mean Facebook on Friday at 41. Best trade I’ve made so far this year. It will be fun to watch this one go down as the worst IPO in history. Those guys were smart to cash out when they did.
Report Post »I support God's Israel!
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 1:49pmMomrules: I agree. In the name of Jesus, who IS LORD OF ALL.
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