SACRAMENTO-
Kristy Kemp loves playing with her son Zander.
A lot about him has changed in since FOX40 visited them almost two years ago, but unfortunately Kemp says not the Facebook attacks on the breastfeeding support page she started after her own troubles trying to nurse him in public.
“As soon as I get up I check my phone and it said I was logged off. So I immediately know something. They removed something,” Kemp, who runs the page Breastfeeding Mama Talk, said Friday.
Two year ago the ‘something’ that prompted a page shutdown was a picture some felt was sexual.
The new something? A repost from a fan to her page.
It said “random thought…formula companies should have a law like the one put on cigarettes for the same amount of advertising put on formula…they have to put into pro breast feeding ads.”
The post references the anti-smoking ads tobacco companies are required to do.
To generate discussion, Kemp asked her fans for thoughts on the re-post….but instead got Facebook’s thought – that the page she used to administer this form of support would be shut down for 30 days.
That notice came minus an exact explanation as to how the post violated Facebook policy.
An imposed disconnect from her online sisterhood moves Kemp to tears.
“Now, I’m worried my next… I think after a 30 day ban, next is they remove your account. And now I’m worried for the safety of my account because […] if they delete it, then I can’t support moms,” she said.
Two years ago Kemp’s page had about 4,300 fans.
Now there are 400,000 worldwide.
As it’s grown, so have reports about the nursing pictures she shares and societal debate on both sides of the issue.
Last year one California mom claimed she was tossed out of a Brad Paisley concert for breastfeeding.
Another breastfeeding mom drew ire online in 2014 when she posted a picture nursing at her graduation from a Cal State University campus.
Many were stunned when the Pope recently said he welcomed breastfeeding in the Sistine chapel.
Whatever your feelings on the topic, Kemp says Facebook should be about open debate – not bullying some opinions about a natural act into silence.
“It’s not fair,” Kemp said.
It 2013 it took FOX40 about two and a half hours to learn from Facebook that Kemp’s page was shut down in error.
For this latest incident, clarification took about twice as long.
A company spokesman tells FOX40 that in the review of the more than one million reports that come in each week, a Facebook team member made a mistake in this case.
Kemp’s post did not violate any site standards.
Facebook apologizes and the administrative page should be restored soon.
