Facebook has reversed its decision to censor a Vietnam War photograph of a naked girl escaping a napalm attack in 1972.

The decision follows criticism of the social network, which was accused of "changing reality" by removing the iconic image from its platform.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning picture, which shows a naked nine-year-old child crying, became the centre of a freedom of speech debate in Norway after Facebook deleted it from an author's profile page.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg joined a number of users in posting the picture on their accounts in protest, but it was swiftly removed from the prime minister's page.

She said: "What (Facebook) do by removing images of this kind, whatever the good intentions, is to edit our common history.


"I want my children and other children to grow up in a society where history is taught as it was, where they can learn from historical events and mistakes.

"Today, pictures are such an important element in making an impression, that if you edit past events or people, you change history and you change reality."

Image: Mark Zuckerberg has been criticised over Facebook's censorship rules

After her post was taken down Ms Solberg retaliated by censoring the image with a large black strip.

She then republished it along with blacked out images of Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King and Ronald Reagan.

The girl in the image, Kim Phuc, is now 53 and lives in Canada.

A spokesperson for Ms Phuc said she was "saddened by those who would focus on the nudity in the historic picture rather than the powerful message it conveys".

Facebook initially said the picture of the girl had been removed as "it is difficult to create a distinction between allowing a photograph of a nude child in one instance and not others".

It added: "Our solutions won't always be perfect, but we will continue to try and improve our policies and the ways in which we apply them."

But announcing the decision to reinstate the picture, Facebook said the image's "status as an iconic image of historic importance ... outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal".

"Because of its status as an iconic image of historical importance, the value of permitting sharing outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal, so we have decided to reinstate the image on Facebook where we are aware it has been removed," a spokesperson said.

Facebook first removed the image when it was posted by author Tom Egeland, who wrote a status about photography that can influence the world.

After posting a news article about the removal, Mr Egeland's account was suspended for 24 hours.

In response the editor of a Norwegian newspaper penned an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, warning him: "I think you are abusing your power."

Aftenposten editor Espen Egil Hansen added: "If you will not distinguish between child pornography and documentary photographs from a war, this will simply promote stupidity and fail to bring human beings closer to each other."