Enraged by Instagram's definition of "acceptable" content, 22-year-old actress Scout Willis—daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore—has sparked a new campaign aimed at the social media platform—#FreeTheNipple. After her account was disabled due to an image of a sweatshirt she designed that featured two topless women, Willis went on a Twitter rampage questioning Instagram's strict dealings with breast cancer survivors while allowing images of drugs and scantily dressed models to be freely posted. To really bring home her point, Willis tweeted a few photos of herself topless, running errands around New York City with the captions “Legal in NYC but not on @instagram” and “What @instagram won’t let you see #FreeTheNipple."
Scout Willis is not alone. A slew of celebrities have had similar run-ins with the photo sharing app, including one breastfeeding mother. Never indecent, catch up on the shut-down accounts you might have missed in all of their beautiful, artistic, fashionable glory.
The most recent uproar against Instagram’s anti-boob crusade concerned one of the social media site's most popular users. International songstress Rihanna, who had roughly 35 million followers, was banned from the platform after she Instagramed a topless photo of herself smoking. BadGalRiRi did have a warning, however, after she previously shared her topless Lui magazine cover and was asked to take the image down. “If you wouldn’t show the photo or video you are thinking about uploading to a child, or your boss, or your parents, you probably shouldn’t share it on Instagram,” the policy states. Clearly, Rihanna knew the image would be seen by all of the above when she agreed to the photo shoot, so shouldn’t that make it acceptable?
Even illustrations of boobs aren't safe! Former model and Vogue creative director Grace Coddington couldn’t make it further than a single Instagram before her account was suspended. Her inaugural photo on the social media platform was a simply sketched cartoon of a topless Coddington reclining in a beach chair. When fans of the fashion veteran came to her defense, Instagram quickly reinstated her account with the drawing still on display. “When our team processes reports from other members of the Instagram community, we occasionally make a mistake,” an Instagram spokesperson told New York Magazine. “In this case, we wrongly removed content and worked to rectify the error as soon as we were notified. We apologise for any convenience [sic].”
The combination of high art and fashion often involves large-scale glossies of topless models. After all, the female nude is no stranger to art history. So, when trendsetter and socialite Michelle Harper was featured in Número Paris magazine, she wanted to share it with her high-brow social media audience. Apparently, Instagram doesn’t find the cultural aspect of nudity acceptable, and they quickly shut down her account. “My Número Paris feature was removed from Instagram because its topless. Absurd. Let’s see here #fashion #photography” she tweeted. Twitter has become the soapbox for many frustrated Instagram users as it is far more liberal when it comes to nudity.
When model Anja Rubik Instagrammed a screen shot of Style.com’s homepage, which featured the model strutting down the runway in a sheer Anthony Vaccarello top, she unexpectedly set off a flurry of debate about the integrity of the platform’s “no-nudity” policy. “Miley Cyrus can post a close-up of her derriere in a pair of white panties printed with a wagging tongue that read ‘Bangers,’” Katherine K. Zarella wrote for Style.com in a Q&A with the model, “but Rubik can’t share a runway snap of her barely visible breasts? Pish posh.” Ironically, the image included the phrase "Don't fear the nipple." It seems Instagram does.
Kendall Jenner waltzing down the runway for Marc Jacobs during New York Fashion Week was sure to spark an Internet frenzy. Kendall Jenner waltzing down that runway in a sheer top could easily have caused a meltdown. Thankfully, it only ruffled the feathers of Instagram who had every image of the Kardashian’s younger sibling blocked or removed. “The photo violated Instagram’s guidelines that include a limitation on nudity,” a rep for the platform told E! News.
Daniel Arnold became one of Instagram’s best amateur photographers when he joined the platform in 2011. Capturing daily life around New York City, his close-ups of unsuspecting pedestrians are “funny, creepy and sad in ways that agitate the combined anxieties over lack of privacy and empathy in the social networking age.” But his most popular image resulted in his Instagram demise. Snapping a brief moment between two topless sunbathers, the image went viral, while also alarming the nudity police. As hard as the “Free Daniel Arnold” movement tried, he was not allowed to reinstate his account. Arnold has since rejoined with a different username.
(c) Daniel Arnold
Beauty blog Into the Gloss had their account flagged after posting a 1969 photo of iconic British actress Jane Birkin in a sheer top. While they admitted they had not read the rules, the blog joined the ranks questioning why so many other “more sexually charged image”—such as an image on Maxim’s account of a scantily clad female bent over in a chair—don’t break the rules.
