Outcry as Facebook removes Swedish breast cancer video

A VIDEO showing women how to spot suspicious lumps on their breasts has been deleted by Facebook because it deemed the images offensive.

Facebook has removed an educational video showing women how to check their breasts for potentially cancerous lumps. Picture: iStock

FACEBOOK has removed a video on breast cancer awareness posted in Sweden because it deemed the images “offensive”, the Swedish Cancer Society said.

The video, displaying animated figures of women with circle-shaped breasts, aimed to explain to women how to check for suspicious lumps.

Sweden’s Cancerfonden said it has tried to contact Facebook without any response and has decided to appeal the decision to remove the video.

Facebook was not immediately available for comment.

The Swedish Cancer Society is baffled by Facebook’s decision to remove an educational video that can saves lives. Picture: iStock

“We find it incomprehensible and strange how one can perceive medical information as offensive,” Cancerfonden communications director Lena Biornstad told AFP.

“This is information that saves lives, which is important for us,” she said.

“This prevents us from doing so.”

Facebook faced outrage in September for repeatedly deleting a historic Vietnam War photo included in a post by Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

It said the iconic photo of a naked Vietnamese girl fleeing a napalm bombing violated its rules but later backtracked on the decision.