Totally stumped as to why my private Facebook post of a song from Led Zeppelin's iconic 1973 album Houses of the Holy off of their official Youtube account was flagged and removed by Facebook and deemed offensive, yet the image is all over Facebook.  Just put Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy in the Facebook search engine and you get the exact same image from I-tunes, Led Zeppelins' official Facebook page and many, many others from individuals like me.  Searching a little further, I began to find posts from other individuals whose similar posts from Houses of the Holy were recently removed. 

I received a message from Facebook stating "This post goes against our Community Standards on nudity or sexual activity.  We have one set of standards because we want everyone on Facebook to feel welcome."

"Nudity or sexual content includes:
• Nudity showing genitals
• Sexual activity
• Female nipples (except in the context of breastfeeding, after-birth moments, health and acts of protest)
• Sexually explicit language"

I have been looking at this album for years and I don't see any genitals, female nipples, or sexual activity and there is definitely no explicit language.

If you read the Facebook Community Standards Policy Rationale, it also states "We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures."

Does Led Zeppelins 1973 masterpiece Houses of the Holy not qualify as "other art" according to Facebook's own language?

This groundbreaking album was certified 11× platinum (over 11 million albums sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1999 and in 2012 the album was ranked at number 148 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

On a personal note, I was raised in the late 70's and early 80's with records and cassette tapes.  Houses of the Holy was one of the albums in my family's record collection.  Later when compact discs became popular, the very first CD I ever purchased was Houses of the Holy.  I was in the eighth grade and purchased it at a mall in America all by myself, and it was not censored in any way.

What is more important than my personal regard and love of this album is stopping censorship of speech or art all over the world, especially here in America.  We must protect our right of expression.  Censorship is a very dangerous slippery slope.  In 2019, we must move forward not back.

This is not about Led Zeppelin.

Please think, sign and share this petition and stand up for our right of expression.