FB apologises for censoring prehistoric Venus statue

VIENNA: Facebook apologised on Thursday for censoring the prehistoric "Venus of Willendorf" figurine, considered a masterpiece of the paleolithic era.

"Our advertising policies do not allow nudity or implied nudity but we have an exception for statues. Therefore, the ad with this image should have been approved," a spokeswoman for Facebook told AFP. "We apologise for the error and have let the advertiser know we are approving their ad," she added.

The controversy began in December when Italian arts activist Laura Ghianda posted a picture of the artwork on the social networking site which went viral. After it was censored she said that "this statue is not ‘dangerously pornographic’. The war on human culture and modern intellectualism will not be tolerated."