The High Court in Paris has set a legal precedent after ruling that the American social media giant Facebook can be taken to court in France, reports The Telegraph.
The ruling was made after Frédéric Durand-Baissas, a teacher and father-of-three, posted a picture of L'Origine du Monde (The Origin of the World), an 1866 painting by Gustave Courbet that hangs in the Musée D'Orsay in Paris, on his Facebook account.
The tableau, which depicts a close-up of the female genitalia, was deemed "too offensive" for Facebook and removed, and the user subsequently blocked.
Arguing that his freedom of expression had been violated, Mr Durand-Baissas filed a legal complaint to the Parisian court.
"I felt like they were indirectly treating me like a pornographer whereas this is a French painting hanging in a museum. It annoys me to be censored," he told BFM TV.
His lawyer, Stéphane Cottineau, insisted that France's 28 million Facebook users should be able to take any issues they have with the company to a French court.