Instagram has finally explained the rationale behind its policy of banning the exposure of female nipples on the photo-sharing app.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Instagram, Kevin Systrom who spoke at an event in London on Wednesday, the app takes down pictures showing an exposed female areola because of Apple’s App Store that houses Instagram.
He says that the App Store has stringent rules against inappropriate content – for example, nudity in the form of an exposed female nipple.
It will be recalled that criticism of the seemingly discriminatory policy of Instagram in allowing pictures of men showing their nipples and banning those of women showing theirs led to the #freethenipple campaign in over 60 cities all over the world in September.
According to activist and filmmaker Lina Esco, who first developed the idea, the campaign is not a crusade that exclusively advocates for women to bare their chests at any and all given times; rather, it seeks to strip society of its tendencies toward the sexualization of the female upper body and ultimately promote global gender equality. Her campaign however dates as far back as December 2014.
The September campaign was sparked by Instagram’s removal of “inappropriate” pictures of celebrities such as Chelsea Handler, Miley Cyrus, Chrissy Teigen, Rihanna, Willow Smith and Scout Willis.
These prompted many celebrities to hit back at the seemingly “double standards” adopted by Instagram in allowing pictures of male nipples but disallowing the females’.
However, Systrom says that the app does not in any way seek to “curtail artistic freedom”, but has to make tough calls in order to stay within the ambit of the App Store’s regulations.
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