It's officially: Instagram is bringing #curvy back.
The social media platform has been under fire for banning the hashtag as part of their effort to crack down on sexually explicit content, which they say was being posted under the tag. However, other tags including the word curvy (#curvywomen, #curvygirl, #curvychic, etc.) and #fat, #thin and #skinny were still searchable, along with a list of terms that could also be considered "inappropriate."
Curvy women were quick to fight back, using the hashtags #curvee, #bringcurvyback and the Tess Holliday-coined #effyourbeautystandards to post photos of themselves on the platform.
Now, after seven days, Instagram has decided to finally lift the #curvy ban. In order to still keep with their policy, they will start curating the tag more closely, weeding out the inappropriate images instead of banning the hashtag altogether.
"We want people to be able to express themselves, and hashtags are a great way to do that," a spokesperson for Instagram told BuzzFeed Life. "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's director of public policy, Nicky Jackson Colaco, went on to explain the decision to block #curvy had nothing to do with its meaning at all -- the ban occurred because of Instagram's automated and human content filtering systems flagging images that break the company's terms of service. Last week, #curvy "hit the tipping point."
"This wasn't curvy pornography, this was just irrelevant pornography" that used the hashtag, she told the Washington Post
"There is nobody who’s cherry-picking terms [to ban]," she said. "And the silver lining in this we have been made aware of terms that hadn’t gotten reported. We're trying to be as consistent as possible."
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