Chelsea Handler and Instagram have never really seen eye-to-eye on their nudity policy, which forbids topless photos of women. To make her point, she posted an NSFW version of the above photo, a spoof of a similar photo Russian president Vladimir Putin.
To nobody’s surprise, it was taken down. And that’s when the battle truly began.
Handler re-posted the picture and asked “If a man posts a photo of his nipples, it's ok, but not a woman? Are we in 1825?” A legitimate question, sure, but not good enough for Instagram. It was taken down again, this time with the following message attached to it:
“We removed your post because it doesn't follow our Community Guidelines. Please read our Community Guidelines to learn what kinds of posts are allowed and how you can help keep Instagram safe.”
Handler didn’t care for that response, and posted the picture a third time. She also added “If Instagram takes this down again, you're saying Vladimir Putin has more 1st amendment rights than me. Talk to your bosses.”
And down it went for a third time.
Handler’s beef that the policy is sexist has some merit, but the other side of this is that Instagram is a private company that has a right to set its own “decency” guidelines. Like it or not, they can control what is and isn’t OK to appear on their website.
[via ET]
