Last month, model Nyome Nicholas-Williams sparked a viral campaign called #IWantToSeeNyome when semi-nude images of the Black plus size influencer resulted in a warning that her account could be deleted.
The pictures, which depicted Nicholas-Williams covering her breasts as she sat on a chair wearing cycle shorts, saw thousands rally behind Nicholas-Williams as she addressed the double standard in the way her portrait had been treated in comparison to those of “very naked, skinny white women every day” on the platform.
After a discussion with Instagram in which they said they were reviewing their policy moving forwards, users have still been encountering problems weeks later as they attempted to post the picture of Nicholas-Williams.
As a result, on Thursday, Nicholas-Williams and others penned an open letter addressed to Instagram co-signed by celebrities including Munroe Bergdorf, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jameela Jamil and notable plus size influencers - saying that “censorship is happening constantly to plus-sized Black women” on the platform.
The letter, addressed to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, reads, “When Emily Ratajkowski, Kylie Jenner, Playboy, Kim Kardashian and millions of other notable influencers or slim, white celebrities upload near nude pictures of themselves, their pictures are not in violation of Instagram’s Community Guidelines; however, my pictures (which showed less of my body) were removed and my account was threatened with closure.”
Nicholas-Williams added that although she had had a Zoom call with Instagram’s team and was told the pictures were “wrongly taken down” as they were not a breach of Instagram’s Community Guidelines.
However, three weeks after, she said her followers were still seeing their accounts “temporarily closed without warning or an opportunity to appeal” as they posted her image in support of the #IWantToSeeNyome campaign.
Explaining that they had collated over 500+ screenshots of removal notices, she continued, “It is abundantly clear that Instagram reproduces the same racial biases that society does. Seeing fat Black bodies as ‘too much’ or unpalatable. The app you are Chief Executive Officer of prides itself on being a free space for everyone to express themselves as they wish. However, there is clearly a disparity between who is allowed freedom and who is policed.”
“If you are white, rich, and conventionally sexually attractive, it seems you can post as you wish and what you wish; but if you are part of a marginalised group you are subject to the results of a biased algorithm,” Nicholas-Williams continued.
Others to co-sign the open letter included Alexandra Cameron, Gina Martin, Aja Barber, Nicole Ocran, Sofie Hagen, Lil Ahenkan, Sassy Latte, Ghenet Pinderhughes Randall, Char Ellesse, Kayela “LaLa Love” Damaze, Kelechi Okafor, Samantha Obrochta, Grace F Victory, Stephanie Yeboah and Seyi Akiwowo.
Images in breach of Instagram’s Community Guidelines are flagged through a mixture of AI technology and manual reviewers. Regarding their policy on nudity, Instagram’s current guidelines ban photos, videos and some digitally-created content of “sexual intercourse, genitals and close-ups of fully-ndue buttocks” as well as “some photos of female nipples” (though breastfeeding and images of post-mastectomy scarring are allowed.”
Nearly a month ago in an email to Nicholas-Williams, the social media platform said the Community Guidelines response to her image had been triggered as their guidelines “don’t allow breast squeezing as it is often associated with pornographic content.” (Nicholas-Williams was covering her breasts in her image with her arm and hands.) Instagram also said at the time they had “shared new guidance with our review teams to help them distinguish between squeezing breasts and simply holding or covering them.”
The open letter asks Instagram to make an “official policy change in the Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity policy section” and to additionally called for an amendment to the appeals process “to provide clear and accessible customer where users can challenge removals effectively.”
Speaking to Evening Standard Insider, Nicholas-Williams said, “Just after the campaign kicked off we had a constructive chat with Instagram and they brought forward guidance/policy reviews, but it was important for us to set out, clearly what we wanted to see from Instagram, so that change could be implemented.”
“The letter shows we want to work constructively and we had such amazing support from my followers and those who don’t follow too,” Nicholas-Williams continued.
Evening Standard Insider reached out to Instagram, who said Mosseri had personally replied to Nicholas-Williams yesterday and that the policies would be officially updated next month.
Tara Hopkins, Head of Instagram Public Policy EMEA, said, “We have apologised directly to Nyome for repeatedly removing her image. This shouldn’t be happening and we are committed to addressing any inequity on our platforms. We expect to update Instagram and Facebook’s shared breast squeezing and covering policies next month, to make sure different body types aren’t treated unfairly.”
Instagram also shared with Evening Standard Insider that the company is “committed to addressing any inequity on Instagram” and planned to share an update next month to “help make sure different body types aren’t treated differently.”
It also added that they had “fewer content reviewers” available due to coronavirus which had affected their appeals system, but were “focused on bringing our reviewers back online.”
