According to the social networking site Facebook, mothers who are breastfeeding their babies is an obscene issue. Therefore the site banned all photographs of lactating breasts that appeared on someone’s profile.

Under the leadership of a Utah mother the nursing moms have formed a group called "Hey Facebook-Breastfeeding is Not Obscene" and has attracted more than 54,000 members. As part of their protest they plan to all change their profile pictures to photos of themselves breast-feeding. The virtual protest will see Facebook members uploading pictures of nursing mothers to the site.

Moreover the group is holding a virtual protest today. In the meantime mothers are staging a "nurse in'' today at the site's headquarters in downtown Palo Alto.

“In response to the ongoing discrimination and oppression of Facebook’s policy of designating breastfeeding photos as obscene and the subsequent and seemingly random removal of breastfeeding photos from member albums and profiles, we are planning a group related ‘event’ to further raise awareness of this injustice.”

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said the site has no plans to quell the protest. "We certainly respect the right of the mothers to protest. ... the photos we remove are flagged by other users. We’re not planning to do anything proactive about these photos."

Facebook has removed these photos from members' albums and profiles, saying that displays of areola (the dark skin around the nipple) violate the company's policy regarding "obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit" material. Facebook also threatened to terminate the members' accounts, saying its policies are designed to ensure its Web site remains a safe, secure and trusted environment for all users, including the many teenagers who use the site.