Instagram Returns #Curvy To Search Results After Hashtag Used For Adult Entertainment
Instagram photos with the word #curvy in the caption will return to the popular photo app’s search results, CBC.com reports. The term was removed from Instagram’s internal search results earlier this month.
The hashtag is incredibly popular among plus-sized Instagram users who use it to tag pictures that celebrate their bodies. Many questioned why such a seemingly harmless term would be prohibited. Despite Instagram’s ban on #curvy, searches for clever variations like #curvygirl or #curvywoman were still yielding search results. Some users altered the spelling of curvy to “curvee” and this Instagram hashtag wasn’t banned.
During the #curvy ban users protested by spamming the captions on their Instagram photos with these hashtags.
A photo posted by Jessica (@curvybostongal79) on
A spokesperson for Instagram has reported that the ban was instituted on #curvy because some of photos with the hashtag violated the app’s terms of use. Instagram photos are not supposed to contain nudity, partial nudity, pornography, or anything that would be considered sexually suggestive.
However, according to Mashable, Instagram has acknowledged that #curvy is used to express body positivity.
“We’re unblocking it, but we are also unblocking it in ways so the content’s going to be able to stay clean on the hashtag,” he said.
The technology was previously used on trending hashtags to ensure that they weren’t used to tag pornography, hate-speech, nudity, or any Instagram photos they label as “bad” content.
Soon after #curvy was banned, Instagram told Mashable that the hashtag was offensive because of photos displaying nudity.
The ban on #curvy angered a lot of Instagram followers, especially since photos with the hashtag #vagina could still be found in the search results.
“We want people to be able to express themselves, and hashtags are a great way to do that,” Instagram’s spokesperson said to Mashable. “At the same time, we have a responsibility to act when we see hashtags being used to spread inappropriate content to our community. In the case of #curvy, we don’t like putting restrictions around a term that many people use in very positive ways, so we have decided to unblock the hashtag while taking steps to ensure that it’s not used as a vehicle for bad content.”
Instagram still insists that they really have nothing against the word “curvy.”
“I can’t scream from the heavens loudly enough that our original decision to block this hashtag has nothing to do at all with the term ‘curvy,’ nor content at all that related to curvy women,” Instagram’s spokesperson said. “It was just porn…”
[Photo via @LOEYBUG on INSTAGRAM]
