The Fountain of Neptune was constructed in the 16th century, located in Piazza del Nettuno in Bologna, Italy. The statue portrays the muscular nude sea god holding a trident.

“I wanted to promote my page, but Facebook deems the statue as a sexually explicit image. Really, Neptune? This is crazy!” said Barbari, as quoted by The Telegraph. Barbari then posted on her Facebook page, "Yes to Neptune, no to censorship".

(Read also: Facebook gets serious about fighting fake news)

Facebook later told Barbari that the image was considered to be sexually explicit, as it revealed body parts unnecessarily. Having said that, the nude Neptune statue had violated Facebook's advertising guidelines. "The use of images or videos of nude bodies or plunging necklines is not allowed, even if the use is for artistic or educational purposes.”

Barbari is not the first person against Facebook's censorship policy. In January last year, Danish politician Mette Gjerskov claimed the social media network had blocked the photo of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark, as the statue features the mermaid's breasts.

Facebook said it restricts nudity because “some audiences within our global community may be sensitive to this type of content”. (asw)

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