social media giant Facebook has to face trail in France over a nude painting row.
Going into the details, Facebook was sued by a French teacher whose facebook account was blocked after he posted a 19th century nude painting by Gustave Courbet, “The Origin of the World”, which depicts a woman’s genitalia. After his account was blocked by Facebook, he filed a complaint alleging that Facebook could not differentiate between pornography and art.
In a hearing on 22nd January, the lawyers of Facebook argued that the website does not fall under French jurisdiction and that only a California court can rule in issues relating to it. But, a Paris court threw out Facebook’s appeal.
The French court will now decide whether the teacher’s freedom of expression was compromised or not when Facebook blocked his account.