Goose on Fire / Fire Duck

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About

Goose on Fire, also known as Fire Duck, is a perfectly timed photograph of a goose running in front of a campfire, appearing as if its head is aflame due to the perspective the picture was taken from. Starting in 2015, the image began circulated on various Facebook meme pages following rumors that the social networking site was censoring the image as graphic content.

Origin

On December 5th, 2010, DeviantArtist Matoroignika^[1] uploaded a photograph and what appeared to be a flaming goose titled "Fire Duck" (shown below). The picture depicts a goose rushing past a campfire in the background, which was taken at the precise moment to appear as if the goose's head is on fire.

Spread

On July 24th, 2015, Redditor DannyD4rko submitted the picture to the /r/me_irl^[6] subreddit, where it accumulated over 990 votes (93% upvoted) prior to being archived. On November 24th, Tumblr user llbragorl^[4] reposted the photograph, which garnered more than 206,000 notes over the next seven months. On November 27th, the Facebook^[2] page "أتاري // Asperger Boy 9000 //" reposted the image. Within seven months, the post gathered upwards of 27,800 shares, 7,500 reactions and 1,600 comments. On January 23rd, 2016, Twitter user @canceric^[5] tweeted the goose photograph with the caption "When your phone autocorrects to 'its duckin lit'" (shown below). Within five months, the tweet gained over 23,100 likes and 21,500 retweets.

On June 25th, the Surface Reality Memes Facebook^[7] page posted a tiled version of the photograph (shown below, left). On June 27th, The Meme Plebs Facebook^[3] page posted a photoshopped picture of the goose sitting in a car with a sign informing readers that the "A/C is on. He has water and is listening to his favorite music" (shown below, right). Within 24 hours, the post garnered more than 5,700 shares and 2,900 reactions.

Facebook Content Warning Controversy

Starting around November 2015, posts of the goose on Facebook and Instagram (which Facebook owns) began to be flagged as "graphic violence," likely because of a erroneous belief that the goose in the image is actually on fire.^[8] The Facebook community standards page prohibits images of "graphic violence" in cases "when they are shared for sadistic pleasure or to celebrate or glorify violence" and otherwise places warnings on graphic images when they are shared for other purposes.^[9]

Facebook had been previously criticized for enforcing its content rules inconsistently^[10] and has been accused of censorship in the past.^[11] Following the censorship of the goose, many frustrated users began mocking Facebook's decision to place content warnings on the image, with several images referencing other, more obviously graphic images that have slipped through the site's filter; alongside frequently featuring Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.