Instagram, stop censoring my body!

Instagram has been my favourite social media platform for – well, forever really. I think it might be due to the fact I’ve always loved to take photos of anything and everything! Add to that it being a great platform to ‘microblog’, the use of stories, the interaction of question stickers and polls… it’s just great! Even the algorithm everyone despises hasn’t phased me. I adore Instagram.

Know what I don’t love? Being censored. Or in Instagram speak, being ‘shadowbanned’.

A lot of people say that shadowbanning doesn’t exist, because Instagram said so – but time has taught us that everything Insta says needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. A ‘shadowban’ means that Instagram will stop your images from appearing under certain hashtags. I didn’t even realise that I was being affected by this until I made my own hashtag. I have created three of my own hashtags: #curvefluencer, #BlossomingMe and #GrowWithFlo. Additionally, I also use my own travel hashtags, #FloJoIn(insertplacenamehere).

One day, I noticed that not all of my images were appearing under the hashtags. I was confused but just thought it was Instagram being glitchy. Then one day I looked and every single one of my photos had been removed from under the hashtags. I couldn’t believe it; obviously I had been ‘shadowbanned’. A lot of people also use my hashtags and luckily their posts were still showing up, so it wasn’t my hashtag that was the problem. It had to be me.

Instagram doesn’t like ‘nudity’

I turned to the UK Bloggers Facebook group for help, where I was met with mixed feedback in terms of this issue. Whilst some people advised that no, a ‘shadowban’ was not a real thing, other people were in the same boat as me. In fact, one individual informed me that the reason could be my swimwear pics. Baffled, I asked for more info, and she advised me that someone was currently in an ongoing debate with Instagram over banning ‘nude’ pictures.

I was stunned. Nude pictures? But I was just posting swimwear pics from my hot summer holidays for goodness sake! This lovely individual, Emma, informed me that there was a big ‘nudity’ ban right now, affecting tonnes of accounts. This ban was affecting people in swimwear, pole dancers, mothers breastfeeding, corset shops and more. Why? Because Instagram was seeing all of these posts as ‘nudity’ and ‘inappropriate’. I couldn’t believe it.

Swimwear pics have flooded my feed all year long and I have thought nothing of it. In fact, swimwear pictures have aided the growth of my account, allowed me to help other people feel confident about their bodies and get involved with some incredible opportunities. Now Instagram was trying to censor me.

Emma sent me this post, and I urge all bloggers, influencers and avid Instagram users to read it. Reading this post showed me that the reason my posts weren’t visible under my hashtag was because I had included swimwear pictures, which were being marked as ‘nudity’ and ‘inappropriate’. Brilliant.

How to lift an Instagram ‘shadowban’

Call it what you like; blocked accounts, shadowbans, whatever. My pictures won’t showing up under hashtags, bringing my reach to an all time low (7 likes in an hour? Come on!) and I know I had to act fast. So what can you do to lift a shadowban?

Get rid of the problematic hashtags. I knew my pictures weren’t showing up under my hashtags because I had included them in the captions of photos of me in swimwear. You know, those ‘nude’ photos. So I removed all hashtags under my swimwear pics.

Change from a business profile to a personal profile. Having had a business profile for years, I was excited to switch to a creator profile. However, once I’d done this, I heard from numerous people that actually, when overcoming a ‘shadowban’, a personal profile is better. Why? Because apparently, due to the algorithm, Instagram shows people personal profiles on their home feed before business profiles, as it wants businesses to pay to appear closer to the top. I don’t know how much truth is in this but I’m not taking any chances right now; the switch was made.

Stop posting for a while. Remain active on stories and via liking and commenting on other people’s content if you like, but don’t post to your feed. Some people suggested a total ban for 24 hours, but I just didn’t post for five days, but stayed on stories so people knew I was there.

Did it work?

Yes, it worked! I couldn’t believe it! After five days, I randomly searched one of my hashtags and suddenly I could see my pictures. I was absolutely overjoyed. My hard work and dedication had paid off and finally I could use Instagram properly again!

But my joy was short lived, because just five hours later, I opened the app to this pop up message:

Not only was my content actively removed for ‘going against community guidelines’ but my shadowban was put back in place. I was beyond frustrated and just wanted to cry. The frustration was only made worse when I saw Cara Delahoyde-Massey’s completely nude Instagram post on my explore page. Yep, she had posted a (gorgeous) photo of her from behind, standing there totally nude. On any other day, I would have loved this post. Today? Today I felt ripped off.

I was clearly being censored.

So I reported it. If my bikini pictures were being removed from Instagram, if my body was being censored, why wasn’t hers? I awaited the response, before getting this:

“We’ve reviewed cara_delahoyde’s photo and found that it doesn’t go against our Community Guidelines. Thank you for your report. We reviewed cara_delahoyde’s photo for nudity or pornography and found that it doesn’t go against our Community Guidelines.”

Yep, that’s right. Cara’s nude photo doesn’t go against Instagram’s Community Guidelines for nudity, but a picture of me in a bikini does. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE, INSTAGRAM.

To clear up any confusion, I double checked Instagram’s ‘Community Guidelines’. Here is what it says, word for word:

“We know there are times when people might want to share nude images that are artistic or creative in nature, but for a variety of reasons, we don’t allow nudity on Instagram. This includes photos, videos and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals and close ups of fully-nude buttocks.”

So let’s get this straight – no nudity, and no fully nude buttocks.

Look at Cara’s picture and look at mine. How was mine deemed inappropriate and removed from Instagram but Cara’s wasn’t? It makes absolutely no sense – and I said so as much on Instagram via their feedback form and Twitter, but obviously I’ve had zero response.

(I would just like to take this moment to say that I was not trying to be malicious when reporting Cara’s photo. This was merely done to investigate how her picture was allowed to remain up but mine was removed. I have spoken to Cara about this and she seemed to completely understand)

So what now?

I’m now back at square one. Once again, I have stopped posting to my feed and will do for another five days or so. I have made sure all my pics have none of my hashtags on, so that going forward can be a completely fresh start. And now I wait.

In the meantime, I’m going to be actively chasing Instagram for a response as to why my bikini photos are removed and full celebrity nudes are not.

Someone suggested it could be someone continuously reporting my content – this would not surprise me. I know a lot of people sad enough to try and “bring me down” like that. However, even if they were reporting me over and over (seriously, how vindictive and jealous do you have to be?!), Instagram should review the report and dismiss it… the way the report of Cara’s photo was dismissed.

Several other people suggested something that I’m inclined to believe; that my photos are being removed because of my body shape. That Instagram is trying to censor my body because I am not stereotypically ‘aesthetically pleasing’. Obviously I’m not plus sized, but I’m not a gorgeous, slim model type. I’m just your average, midsize, curvy girl who doesn’t have lip fillers, extensions, a face full of makeup 24/7…It’s funny that all these slim, model type people are allowed to post nudes and swimwear with no repercussions, but a chubby babe spreading body confidence and self love is penalised. I would hate to think that Instagram was penalising someone for their physical appearance but I believe they have done it before to people bigger than me… what’s to stop them doing it to me now?

What can we learn from this?

What I will say about this is, don’t put all your eggs into the Instagram basket. I have a newsletter and have recently started a podcast; now I am putting a lot more time and energy into this. Obviously I recently relaunched my blog and again, I’m putting more time and effort into this. I’ve even re-started my Pinterest account from years ago and am experimenting with that as a platform for my work.

I will never stop promoting ‘normal’ bodies like mine. I will never stop spreading self love and body confidence far and wide, as much as I can. No one will stop me, least of all Instagram.

Instagram is my favourite social media platform, and I hope it changes it’s rules and regulations a little. I hope it will stop attacking my account and allow me to use it freely the way I used to. For now, though, I’m giving it the cold shoulder.

Love from, Florence Grace