Denmark: Facebook blocks Little Mermaid over 'bare skin'

The Little Mermaid has been perched on a rock on Copenhagen's waterfront since 1913 and is considered a national treasure

A Danish politician who tried to post a photo of Copenhagen's iconic Little Mermaid statue on Facebook was told it could not be published because of nudity rules.

Social Democrat MP Mette Gjerskov wanted to post a link to her blog, which included a shot of the bronze statue, when she received a rejection notification from the site, the Ekstra Bladet website reports. The message, which Ms Gjerskov shared on her social media accounts, said the Little Mermaid image contained "too much bare skin or sexual undertones". It added that the rules applied even if an image had "artistic or educational purposes".

Ms Gjerskov described the decision as "totally ridiculous", although in a later update she said Facebook had subsequently relented and approved the image. In March 2015, the site clarified its rules on nudity and said that it does allow photos of paintings, sculptures and other art that depicts nude figures.

The Little Mermaid isn't the first piece of Danish art to encounter problems. In September, Facebook blocked a Danish tourism organisation from posting an image of C.W. Eckersberg's 1841 painting Woman Standing in Front of a Mirror, before later admitting the decision over the famous nude work was an "error".

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