Instagram Has No Plans to Create an R-Rated Version or to Free the Nipple

Instagram's nipple censorship will continue, so expect to see more of Chelsea Handler's boobs in protest.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Instagram’s heard your complaints about Nipplegate—including complaints from celebs like Chelsea Handler and Chrissy Teigen, ardent supporters of the #FreeTheNipple movement who have bared it all to show the discrepancies in Instagram’s nudity guidelines when it comes male nipples and/or butts (See: John Legend, Justin Beiber)—but it’s still going to censor female nipples, even cartoon ones.

During Vanity Fair's “New Establishment Summit” on Tuesday Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom talked about the nudity guidelines and was asked about making an R-Rated Instagram to host photos deemed inappropriate for regular Instagram. Systrom said it had been discussed though the problem is, according to Systrom, “who decides what’s R-rated.” 

“We are not in the business of hosting porn,” he explained further. “We focus on people being able to express themselves in beautiful ways.” An outrageous statement from the company that banned one of those beautiful ways of expression when it banned the “curvy” hashtag. Instead of clarifying anything Systrom made Nipplegate all the more confusing by saying that “nudity is not banned” on Instagram. 

An Instagram spokesperson later refuted Systrom’s comments, telling Mashable there were never plans to make a separate R-Rated version of the popular app. 

[via Uproxx]

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