A user of Yahoo’s photo-sharing Web site Flickr says he suddenly had his account yanked after he posted comments criticizing President Obama.
Shepherd Johnson of Virginia said his account — which included about 1,200 photos — was deleted last week after he started making anti-administration comments alongside photos on the White House “Flickrstream.”
Johnson said he was griping about a new law that “allows the Obama administration to withhold from the public photos of horrible acts used by the Bush administration in its so called War on Terror.”
He said his comments were deleted, and when he posted others two days later — including one with a torture photo from the Abu Ghraib prison — his account was shut down, according to Gawker.
Flickr issued a statement: “In joining Flickr, all of our members agree to abide by our community guidelines. These guidelines require that all of our members be respectful of the community.”
Johnson said a Flickr representative later told him that his account was yanked because of the Abu Graib photo and because he was “spamming” the Web service, according to the Thomas Hawk Digital Connection.
The representative “offered me a $24.99 gift card for a new ‘pro’ account but told me my precious photos and the hard work that I put in over the past year were irretrievable,” he said.