The woman at the centre of one of the most iconic pictures from the Vietnam war is talking about Facebook's banning of the photo.
Taken on June 8, 1972 by Associated Press photojournalist Nick Ut, shows then-nine-year-old Kim Phuc naked and screaming, fleeing an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places.
Phuc became known as 'napalm girl' and is speaking out after Facebook temporarily banned the photo.
“I was really saddened by the people who just looked at the nudity rather than focus on the powerful message (the photo) conveys,” Phuc, now 53, told CTV Kitchener on Sunday. She visited the southern Ontario town to speak about her experiences at a local church.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning photo was seen around the world, to become one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century.
More than four decades later, the photo made headlines again this summer after Facebook removed it from a Norwegian author’s page, saying it violated the social network’s rules on nudity.
In protest of the ban, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg posted the picture on her Facebook page only to have it removed as well.
The social media giant initially stood by its decision, saying it was too complicated to create a distinction between allowing some photographs that featured child nudity but not others. After widespread revolt, however, Facebook reversed that decision in early September. Facebook said it recognized the “history and global importance” of the image and has since adjusted its policy on nudity to exclude images that are newsworthy or historically significant.