Heather Walker, Memphis Mother, Temporarily Banned From Uploading Facebook Photos After Posting Images Of Terminally Ill Son (UPDATE)
By Tara Kelly
A mother has been banned from Facebook after posting images of her newborn son, reports KCTV 5 News.
Parents Heather and Patrick Walker of Memphis, Tennessee welcomed their son Grayson James Walker on February 15, 2012, notes the Daily Mail.
The infant lived only eight hours after suffering from anencephaly, a rare birth defect where a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull.
To share his memory with family and friends, Walker took to Facebook posting the photographs of her deceased son.
Shortly after, the social network deleted the images. When the Walkers encouraged family and friends to contact Facebook in protest, the social network banned the mother from the site entirely, notes the Daily Mail.
Gizmodo explains Facebook's community standards prohibit nine types of content from the site, including the following: Violence and Threats, Self-Harm, Bullying and Harassment, Hate Speech, Graphic Violence, Nudity and Pornography, Identity and Privacy, Intellectual Property and Phishing and Spam.
Facebook has yet to comment on the incident.
UPDATE: 5:00 p.m --In a prepared statement from Facebook the company commented on the incident.
"Upon investigation, we concluded the photo does not violate our guidelines and was removed in error. Facebook is a place where almost a billion people share more than 300 million photos a day. Our dedicated User Operations Team reviews millions of pieces of this content a day to help keep Facebook safe for all ages. Our policies are enforced by a team of reviewers in several offices across the globe. This team looks at hundreds of thousands of reports every week, and as you might expect, occasionally, we make a mistake and remove a piece of content we shouldn't have. We extend our deepest condolences to the family and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience."
Facebook also explained Heather Walker has never been suspended from the site. Instead, the company said it temporarily blocked her ability to upload photos as a consequence of having a photo removed from the site. This happens automatically whenever a user is cautioned for inappropriate content.
Editors Note: The previous headline for the story stated Facebook banned Heather Walker from the site. However, a response from Facebook said the user was only temporarily banned from uploading photos to the site. The headline has been updated to reflect that correction.
Tara Kelly
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