Instagram changes nudity policy after controversy with Black, plus-size model

Following a three-month community campaign, The Guardian reports Instagram is changing its policy on female nudity. Starting this week, both Instagram and Facebook say they will allow “content where someone is simply hugging, cupping or holding their breasts.” The change comes after Black, plus-size and other marginalized communities accused the platform of discriminately applying its nudity rules to non-white women. 

In August, Instagram repeatedly deleted a series of photos of Nyome Nicholas-Williams that showed the Black plus-size model with her arms over her bare chest. Nicholas-Williams argued that Instagram censored her while simultaneously allowing similar photos of thin, white women to stay up on the platform with little or no penalty. “Millions of pictures of very naked, skinny white women can be found on Instagram every day,” she told The Guardian at the time. “But a fat black woman celebrating her body is banned? It was shocking to me. I feel like I’m being silenced.” Other Black, plus-size and marginalized creators found Instagram did the same with their photos, and the enforcement action led to a groundswell of online activism centered around the #IWantToSeeNyome hashtag.