Instagram’s “supreme court” is reviewing its transgender nudity policy after a user complained because the social media site removed a picture showing their breasts.
The Oversight Board is considering a case in which a couple posted topless photographs to celebrate the fact one of them was getting “top surgery”, where breasts are reduced in size or removed.
The posts were flagged by Instagram’s automated moderation technology and blocked as “pornographic”. While the ban was appealed, the posts were reinstated, but they were later taken down again.
Instagram’s parent company Meta’s policy states that nudity and images of breasts are banned on the site, except in “medical or health context situations – for example, gender confirmation surgery”. It says it may include a label warning people the post is sensitive.
The US couple, who identify as gender non-binary, complained to the Oversight Board and said they were trying to boost awareness of transgender health issues and raise money to pay for the surgery.
The Oversight Board is a group of academics, lawyers and journalists including former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger who rule on contentious cases involving Instagram and Facebook, which is also owned by Meta.
It said: “The couple express confusion about how their content violated Meta’s policies. They explain the breasts in the photos are not those of women and that it is important that transgender bodies are not censored.”
The board said it would consider whether Meta’s policies “respect the rights of trans and non-binary users” and whether an exception related to “gender confirmation surgery”, which trumps its ban on female nipples on the site, was working.
The case reopens a debate for the social network over its policy on nudity and topless photos.
Transgender people have complained for years that their posts are unfairly censored.
Feminist campaigns such as “Free the Nipple”, meanwhile, have argued against Facebook’s policies to block showing female nipples while allowing topless male photos.
Photos of nipples are only allowed in some breast-feeding and child birth contexts, breast cancer surgery, as well as in the context of gender confirmation operations.
