A Winchester-based photographer's pictures - including the England cricket team in a huddle - got blocked by Facebook for supposedly containing "overtly sexual" content.
Mike Hall, the owner of Northwall Gallery, said he had tried uploading the images featuring a cow standing in a field, a Hong Kong skyline, ripples in a pond among others as Facebook ads on his business page. At one point, his entire account too was suspended from placing any ads at all.
The picture of the England team in a huddle that was marked 'overtly sexual' was from their 2018 Southampton Test against India. It was also Alastair Cook's final international match as he bid farewell with a memorable century.
Amongst other things banned by Facebook was...the England Cricket team. We framed this last night. Looks great! An A3...
Posted by Northwall Gallery on Wednesday, February 10, 2021
The other images were banned for bizarre reasons including a neon sign of the word 'disco' calling it for promoting alcohol. The ripples on a pond were called out saying they were selling 'adult products', while the fireworks display was said as 'promoting weapons' among others.
Talking to BBC, Hall said there was "nothing risque" about any of the 400 images on his business page and it led to Facebook investigating the issue. However, soon after the BBC had contacted Facebook about the matter, the ads were reinstated.
"When you're running a small business or any business where you're trying to figure out what's gone wrong, you can't have an arbitrary process with no-one to talk to," Hall said.
"When I set up my account with Facebook I had to verify my business with them - but after that, it fell into an abyss."
However, Mr Hall does not intend to abandon his Facebook efforts. "I'll persevere," he said.