Facebook Backpedals After Deleting Account Over Photo Of Breastfeeding Mother
BANNING (CBS) — A popular Inland Empire breastfeeding expert and licensed lactation consultant says Facebook has reinstated her account after deleting her pages over a photo of a breastfeeding mother.
Christy Jo Hendricks says she had more than 3,500 friends and that her Birthing, Bonding & Breastfeeding page reached 700,000 people regularly before her account was disabled, pages removed and events canceled, according to a blog post published Thursday.
The offending photo was apparently one of a baby breastfeeding, with her right hand in her mom's shirt.
"She was in a restaurant, and we were in a mom's group," Hendricks said, "but put it on a screen, and all of a sudden, its unlawful."
Hendricks' sudden disappearance from Facebook touched off a wave of protest from her friends and fans.
"I feel like, as soon as Facebook saw there was going to be media coverage, they backed down," Hendricks said.
Facebook sent Hendricks an email Friday morning, explaining that her account -- Mommymilk Lac -- had been temporarily suspended because it did not represent an individual person and had been reactivated so it can be converted to a page. Her photos, however, won't migrate to the new page.
"This must be how moms feel when they're censored every day, when they're told to breastfeed in the bathroom, or told 'I don't want to see that,'" Hendricks said.
The abrupt cut off from her Facebook network made Hendricks realize that she couldn't depend on Facebook for her business. She had scheduled training sessions on the website, set up appointments with moms needing her help via their message system.
"I had put all my eggs in this basket," Hendricks said. After her account was disabled, "besides being shocked they think breastfeeding was offensive, I realized Facebook could wipe out my entire business."
Now that she has access again to her account, Hendricks said the first thing she did was back up all her information.
"They are more powerful than I thought," she said.
