Instagram: Bringing #Curvy Back
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| hellogiggles.com |
Last week, Instagram came under fire from body-positive
Instagrammers for blocking the hashtag #curvy. Now, after a wave of complaints,
Instagram have backtracked and the hashtag has been unblocked. ‘We want people
to be able to express themselves, and hashtags are a great way to do that,’ an
Instagram spokesperson said in a statement. ‘At the same time, we have a
responsibility to act when we see hashtags being used to spread inappropriate
content to our community.’
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| dailymail.co.uk |
Many critics have attacked Instagram’s censorship policy,
citing pornographic sites or hashtags that remain searchable while
body-positive hashtags like #curvy were removed. Instagram’s director of public
policy, Nicky Jackson Colaco, gave a possible explanation as to why some sexual
material remains unblocked. Users looking specifically for pornography are less
likely to report an image than those who accidentally stumble across irrelevant
pornography under a hashtag like #curvy. ‘There is nobody who’s cherry-picking
terms...We’re trying to be as consistent as possible,’ said Colaco.
Plans are in place to clean up hashtags that are associated
with pornographic content. #Curvy is not the first to be curated – there have
been bans on dozens of unlikely hashtags which contained images that violated community
guidelines, including #eggplant and #soles.
Model Stefania Ferrario – who started the #DropthePlus hashtag to stop women being labelled ‘plus-size’ – told Huffington Post that ‘'curvy' is a word that has culturally positive connotations with regard to the female body, unlike the term “plus-size”, which suggests that a woman is bigger than she should be. By banning “curvy” they removed an empowering tag for women.’ Ferrario argued that there shouldn’t be any restrictions on sex and nudity on Instagram at all because it forces people to use the wrong hashtags to share porn. If everyone used the right hashtags, no one would come across pornography unless they wanted to. ‘Instagram leaves up hashtags that encourage gun use, violence and eating disorders – what’s their hang-up with sex and nudity?’ said Ferrario.
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| Google images |
Aaron Waterhouse
Aaron is a recent English graduate from Durham University who is now working as a content writer intern. An enthusiastic traveller, he hopes to become a journalist and report from around the world. Follow him @AaronAtSMF
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Instagram: Bringing #Curvy Back
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
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