Dozens of naked people, holding up images of nipples, stood outside Facebook to protest against its ban on nudity

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Naked models outside Facebook's New York offices in Manhattan.

• Dozens of people stripped off outside Facebook's New York offices as part of an art installation protesting against a ban on nudity on Facebook and Instagram.
• The protest was organized by American artist and photographer Spencer Tunick with the National Coalition Against Censorship.
• Artists say that Facebook's strict nudity policy is preventing them from sharing their work online.
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Dozens of naked models gathered outside Facebook's office in New York on Sunday as part of an art installation that protested Facebook's ban on nudity.

The demonstration, known as #WeTheNipple, was organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) along with artist Spencer Tunick, who photographed the nude crowd.

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Facebook has a strict ban on nudity on its own platform as well as Instagram. Some artists complain that this prevents them from sharing their work online.

"It particularly harms artists whose work focuses on their own bodies, including queer and gender-nonconforming artists, and the bodies of those in their communities. Museums and galleries are constrained when even promoting exhibitions featuring nudes," the NCAC wrote in a press release for the event.

Facebook did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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According to CNN, members of women's empowerment group Grab Them By The Ballot also took part in the demonstration.

"We are here to empower women around body positivity and encourage female voter turnout in 2020," Dawn Robertson, founder of the group, said in a statement to the press before the event.

She continued: "This isn't just about shock value and protesting - it's about reclaiming our bodies. Facebook and Instagram have missed this message entirely as they cling to negligent and blatantly misogynist policies that overlook the context of the artistic nudity being posted."

Robertson said Facebook permanently banned the group's ad account after it posted a nude painting with a celebratory poem for Mother's Day. She has also had her own account banned on several occasions.

According to Roberston, Facebook admitted that they were "wrong" to have canceled these accounts after she appealed, but she has since been banned again.