A French court on Thursday dismissed a case brought by a French teacher who wanted to sue the US social media giant over his claims that his page was censored when he posted a nude painting by Gustave Courbet.

The Paris appeal court in December 2016 upheld a ruling that Facebook could be sued under French and not Californian law.

The teacher, Frederic Durand, won in the Paris high court earlier after claiming that Facebook were wrong to suspend his account.

But the latest ruling said material produced in the case “does not demonstrate with the necessary rigour that the deactivation… was due to the posting of the painting”.

The court “dismisses all of Frederic Durand’s claims”, it added.