Facebook has been forced to back down after being accused of an abuse of power by censoring one of the most famous images of the Vietnam war.

Norway’s largest newspaper on Thursday published a front-page open letter to the social network’s founder slamming the company’s decision to remove the Terror of War.

The Pulitzer prize-winning photograph by Nick Ut shows children, including a naked nine-year-old Kim Phuc, fleeing a napalm attack during the Vietnam war.

But after the moved created a bitter row over censorship, Facebook said in a statement: "An image of a naked child would normally be presumed to violate our Community Standards, and in some countries might even qualify as child pornography."

"In this case, we recognize the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time."

Espen Egil Hansen – editor-in-chief and chief executive of Aftenposten – called on Zuckerberg to recognise his role as the “the world’s most powerful editor” of a site that has become a key player in the distribution of news and information globally.