Facebook Apologizes For Banning Tattoo Artist Who Helps Breast Cancer Survivors

Facebook issued an apology for disabling a tattoo artist’s page. The artist, Kerry Soraci, was banned because it featured “content that is sexually suggestive/contains nudity” and hindered Facebook’s community standards.

Facebook Bans Tattoo Artist

What was Soraci posting, you ask? The page was intended to showcase the work he’d done on breast cancer survivors who had undergone reconstructive surgery, according to Fox News. Soraci’s tattoos and art have helped a great number of breast cancer survivors. “I don’t understand this as the consequence for something so helpful,” Soraci said.

Soraci’s Facebook pages for her other businesses, I Scream Cakes and Kaleidoscope Ceiling, were also deactivated by because she was the admin for both. Not only did she miss (almost) an entire month of promoting her businesses on Facebook she also missed an opportunity to educate people (the real reason behind her Facebook page).

According to Soraci, her photos aim to educate women who have mastectomies about their post-surgery options. One of the options, as she shows through her photos, is to get artwork to cover the scarring. What better way to send a message and educated people than one of the largest social media sites in the world?

So, why did Facebook remove the postings?

Well, this is just one of the many pages Facebook has banned recently. You may have noticed even on your personal account that Facebook has been removing posts. The social media website has been locking down on what people post recently.

“We disable accounts that solicit others or feature content that is sexually suggestive/contains nudity,” Kevin Parker of Facebook said.

Getting Her Facebook Page Back

The Missouri-based tattoo artist said that it took media coverage of the incident to get her page restored. “It is really annoying that we have to go through the media to get them to respond,” Sorachi said.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was the first to report on the matter. Soon after the news article went live Facebook sent an apology to Soraci on through Messenger saying:

“A member of our team accidentally removed something you posted on Facebook,” Facebook wrote. “This was a mistake, and we sincerely apologize for [the] error.”

Facebook told that New York Daily News that the photos were mistakenly taken down and that the social media site understands the good Soraci is trying to do with her work.

“We understand that sharing photos can help raise awareness about breast cancer and support the men and women facing a diagnosis, undergoing treatment or living with the scars of cancer,” Facebook said in a statement to the NY Daily News. “These pictures were removed in error and have now been restored. Our team processes millions of reports each week, and we occasionally do make a mistake. We apologize for this and for any inconvenience caused.”

The page, which was disabled on December 30, was back on the web on Thursday (January 19) and has been fully restored as of this morning.

Do you think Soraci’s photos are offensive? Should Facebook have left them down?

Photos: Facebook