When Facebook takes down a nude photo due to their strict policy, it’s a strange sight to see it plastered to a roadside billboard for a public offline audience. Wu Zongdai, a student from Shezi, village, in Tainan, had a photo removed from Facebook for indecent exposure. Rather than keep it privately on his computer, he was determined to get it out for a crowd of people.
Zongdai, a graduate student at the University of Southern Arts, was taken aback by Facebook’s decision to remove the photo. In the image, he is seen posing on a couch with long black locks and female lingerie. His bra is slipping from his shoulders, revealing one of his nipples. Although Facebook doesn’t consider male nipples as nudity, it was still taken down.
The online feedback made him want to see more reactions from people after observing the creative piece. Zhu rented a roadside billboard in a small village and stuck the photo that was deemed unacceptable by the social media platform. He sat back for his feedback to trickle in.
The comments poured in fast and it wasn’t all positive. Within a span of a few hours, someone notified the cops and officers were having a search party for the culprit.
When the police identified Wu as the one behind the display, they let him go with a warning that he could be charged with indecent exposure. Wu defended himself by explaining that it was an art project and that he was the “female” model.
The authorities may have let him go but the university wasn’t fond of the project with its reputation on the line. Members of the faculty demanded Wu take down the billboard but he refused to budge on his stance, explaining that the name of the university was not cited anywhere on the billboard.
Wu did eventually remove the billboard because it was highly controversial even if he was the model. People were having a hard time locking eyes with a provocative male model and the community’s values needed to be respected.