• Reuters, Tuesday, December 30, 2008 11:30 AM

Mothers across the globe are up in arms against Facebook for deleting photos of women breastfeeding their babies. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said the site takes no action over most breast-feeding photos because they follow Facebook's terms of use, but others are removed to keep children from seeing photos of fully exposed breasts. "Photos containing a fully exposed breast (which means showing the nipple) do violate those terms (referring to obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit material) and may be removed," Schnitt said, adding: "The photos we act upon are almost exclusively brought to our attention by other users who complain."

Facebook's policy has angered many users, who've banded together to form the online petition "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" According to Reuters, protesters also organized a virtual "nurse in" on the site and held a small demonstration outside the company's offices in Palo Alto, California. The petition has now attracted more than 80,000 names and over 10,000 comments, and has brought back the debate about breastfeeding in public should be allowed.

As one angry commenter said: "I find it offensive that (Facebook) can remove my photo but not the close-up picture of a thonged backside I (have) seen on a friend's page or remove the "what kama sutra position are you?" quiz application," Facebook, meanwhile, says it's standing by its decision.

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