Vienna Tourist Board censored by Facebook, shares art on OnlyFans

OnlyFans has been in the news a lot, growing fame or infamy as a place for creators to share content, girls to sell explicit pictures and videos, and now, a place to see ancient works of art? After falling victim to Facebook and Instagram’s censorship algorithms, the Vienna Tourist Board has moved to OnlyFans to display great works of art.

Joining over 2 million other creators, the tourist board opened an OnlyFans account where they can safely share some of the artwork of Vienna that some more puritanical people may find offensive for showing nudity. The works of art had previously been shared with the world on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, but paintings and sculptures that depicted even partial nudity were flagged and removed.

Some social media accounts were even closed and banned for posting the artwork. A spokesperson for the museum questioned the virtue of the algorithmic censorship blocking cultural legacy.

“It might lead to some unconscious self-censorship, when artists start to make art differently or collectors assemble their collections in a different way because they know a tool as strong as social media would not show or promote certain types of art. This is quite frightening.”

In response to the censorship of art, the Vienna Tourist Board launched its OnlyFans account, utilizing the less constrictive rules of the platform that recently attempted to ban nudity but quickly backed down after massive backlash.

In the past, Facebook has banned accounts of a teacher in 2011 who posted the painting L’Origine du Monde (The Origin of the World) by Gustave Courbet which depicts a woman’s genitals and in 2017 Instagram removed images from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for violating community standards.

The Vienna Tourist Board said they could not post a 20th-anniversary video of the Leopold Museum as a painting of a partially naked couple was seen in it. And a whole new TikTok account had to be created for the Albertina Museum after partial nudes in a Japanese exhibit caused their account to be banned.

The OnlyFans account has garnered about 300 fans so far with the Vienna Tourist Board commenting that they realise this account will only reach a certain subset of people, but they believe it starts a conversation and raises awareness about art and censorship. They hope it will encourage people to come to Vienna and they are offering OnlyFans subscribers a free Vienna City Card or admission to one of the museums whose artwork is featured on the site.

SOURCE: NPR