You Won’t Believe the Word Instagram Just Banned
We kind of don’t know why we even took pictures before there was Instagram. We use the app constantly to look at pics of our favorite celebrities (like Blake Lively and baby James), peep cool style, and get serious travel FOMO. It goes without saying that Instagram is awesome, but lately some of its policies are reminding us more and more of our conservative grandma. Recently, Instagram has caused controversy for banning pics of female nipples, and now they’re enacting a ban on a word that is really face-palm worthy: you can’t search “#curvy” now.
Buzzfeed reports that Instagram recently made the hashtag, which is widely associated with body positivity, unsearchable. According to a rep from Instagram, the word is not searchable because “it was being used to share images and videos that violated Instagram’s community guidelines around nudity.” While you can still search terms associated with #curvy, like #curvybabes and #curvygirls and #curvysmurvy (which is a hashtag we just made up tbh but should totally blow up), you can’t search for the term on its own. It seems especially unfair since you can still search actually sexually explicit terms pertaining to body parts — we looked up #t*tties for you, FOR JOURNALISM, and even that was a live hashtag.
Is this change a subtle way to body shame curvy girls? Is Instagram just being selectively prudish? Either way, this new ban is baffling and you can feel free to tag your body positive pics #curvysmurvy until conditions improve.
What’s your favorite Instagram hashtag to use? Tell us in the comments!
(h/t Buzzfeed)