Why Instagram brought back curvy

Last week Instagram blocked the #curvy hashtag, sparking a mini-outcry.

Campaigners have long taken issue with Instagram's no-nudity policy, but this move opened up the social media site for new criticism from those who saw a body-positive term being effectively banned.

Instagram said #curvy was blocked because people were using it to share pornographic images that violated the site's rules, but after an outcry was led on the #curvee and #bringbackcurvy hashtags, Instagram has had a rethink.

Instagram said in a statement to the Re/code website:

We want people to be able to express themselves, and hashtags are a great way to do that. 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.

Hurrah.

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