Cancer survivor’s mastectomy photos banned by Facebook for being ‘pornographic’

Photographs shared online by breast cancer survivor Joanne Jackson have been removed from Facebook after being labelled as ‘pornography’.

Following her operation Joanne, 40, posted a series of photos showing her scars to commemorate winning her battle with the killer disease.

However the mother-of-two from Thornhill, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, found some of the images, which revealed her operation scar, had been removed by Facebook for being ‘offensive’.

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Joanne posted the images in her own Facebook album and on pages for various cancer organisations. She explained: “There is nothing pornographic or explicit about these pictures. That was not the idea at all.

“I took breast cancer and the mastectomy in my stride and decided it wasn't going to stop me living my life. It wasn't going to define who I was, and it didn't make me any less attractive as a woman.

“My attitude was to just get on with it. I knew I could kick cancer's ass and I did.”

The social network sent Joanne a warning message that further 'abusive' breaches would result in her account being shut down.

In response Joanne added: “It's censorship, pure and simple, I'm not backing down so Facebook can do their worst.”

Her Facebook friends and family have now taken up the fight and the images have been re-posted as far afield as Australia, Canada, USA and Spain.

Joanne only discovered she had breast cancer after dieting and losing five stone, dropping from a size 22 to a size 10.

Joanne's bust reduced from a size 40HH to 30C and in May last year she discovered she had a lump in her breast.

A Facebook spokesman confirmed that 'several' images had been removed. He added that, while the social network welcomes mastectomy pictures, some images may breach the regulation that tells users to not post content that contains nudity.

On Facebook's community standards page, there are nine types of content that may be deemed offensive and removed. Joanne’s photos were removed under the Nudity and Pornography clause.