Facebook apologises for removing photos of badly burned hero firefighter who lost his ears and nose in explosion

 

Facebook has apologised after twice censoring a photo of an inspirational former firefighter who was badly disfigured in a blaze 35 years ago.
A friend of Lasse Gustavson - who lost his skin, hair and ears in an explosion in 1981 - posted his picture onto his timeline to celebrate his 60th birthday , but twice found the post had been taken down.
But on the third occasion, he reposted the image and wrote a stinging criticism of Facebook's policy on images of burns victims.
 
Bjorn Lindeblad wrote:

"Would you like to help me protest against a despicable Facebook policy?
"Then please share and spread this photo of one of the most beautiful souls I know. I'm now posting it on Facebook for the third time within 36 hours.
 "Facebook has removed the photo twice already, with no explanation whatsoever. And then they expelled me from my Facebook account.
"At first, I was flabbergasted. Then several burn victims contacted me and explained that photos of burn victims are often classified in the same category as sexist and racist photos on Facebook.
"Oh dear. So let's let Facebook know how we feel about this policy by spreading this photo far and wide."