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Seven sorry for deleting AFLW photo

"We're sorry. Removing the photo sent the wrong message," says Seven's AFL Twitter account.

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Seven has apologised for deleting a photo of AFLW player Tayla Harris in action from its Twitter account.

@7AFLW originally published the photo on its social media account before deleting it due to offensive comments.

“Recently we published an image of AFLW player Tayla Harris. The original purpose in publishing the image was to celebrate the power, athleticism and skills on show in Carlton’s thrilling win over the Western Bulldogs,” it posted.

“The image attracted a number of comments, some of which were inappropriate and offensive. As a consequence we have removed the image and the comments.”

But the move drew a heated response from followers who accused them of giving in to trolls.

Dr Kristin Ferguson, Deputy Chair of ABC tweeted, “Of all the possible responses to the online denigration women face on a daily basis online, removing evidence of their contributions/skills/strength should be last on that list. I hope photos of @taylaharriss in full flight now flood our social media platforms. #taylaharris”

Tayla Harris tweeted, “Here’s a pic of me at work… think about this before your derogatory comments, animals.”

Seven later did a U-turn late last night, pinning the image to the top of is account.

“We’re sorry. Removing the photo sent the wrong message,” it said.

“Many of the comments made on the post were reprehensible & we’ll work harder to ban trolls from our pages.

“Our intention was to highlight @taylaharriss incredible athleticism & we’ll continue to celebrate women’s footy.”

On RSN Radio’s Breakfast Club this morning Harris said, “It’s not about me now, it’s about a much bigger picture.

“I’m happy to talk about this because I’m feeling fine now, but there’s people who may have experienced things like sexual assault who would have seen this too and their reactions might be very different.

“We’re not talking about the trolls right now, we’re talking about society right now and a much bigger picture.”

Via: news.com.au

7 Responses

  2. Unfortunately Twitter doesn’t allow you to delete comments from other posters that reply to your post the way that Facebook does. Makes it very hard to police these things.

  4. Apology justified and Seven now receiving a lot of praise for doing so, very rarely do networks offer such for such things, especially online. It was a marvellous photo and should be celebrated, encapsulating th new-ish AFLW league.

    I think Seven didn’t want to, but instead panicked? Thinking deleting the post would rid all the (extremely offensive) comments, rather than spend time moderating and all the comments on the comments, if that makes sense.

    Nicole Livingstone (AFLW Boss and former Olympic swimmer and 10 talent) told Neil Mitchell this morning that the AFL, AFLW and Seven all now have social media teams actively moderating.

    2. Yes it wasn’t the photo, it was the comments. unfortunately they deleted the tweet because of the comments, but that also meant the photo was deleted, which stirred up people the wrong way.

      All mended now.

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