Instagram Censorship

Instagram is a free photo and video sharing social networking platform that allows users to connect with their followers or with a select group of friends. Its mission is to capture and share the world’s moments. From small businesses to large institutions, news organizations to cultural hubs, celebrities, photographers, musicians, and influencers, Instagram allows users to share aspects of their life through posts, stories, short-form videos, live streams, and direct messages. You can make a visual impression through taking, editing, and publishing content, as well as interacting with your content via likes, comments, shares, and saves. With more than one billion active users, Instagram has become one of the most popular social media platforms, especially among millennials. Nearly 70% of its total population are under 35 years old. Despite its strong presence, there have been continuous controversies regarding Instagram's decisions on censorship as well as the outcomes of its censorship. Its algorithm has come under fire for implementing racist decisions and double standards.

Instagram logo

Background

Instagram was developed in San Francisco and launched in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. Taking only eight weeks for software engineers to develop, Instagram gained attraction rapidly. Its simple interface and easy-to-use features made it widely popular. In less than two years, Meta (formerly Facebook) acquired the company for $1 billion in cash and stock. While user growth has continued to increase since the Meta acquisition, the platform has several ethical concerns over censorship. Over the years, questions about who and what Instagram can and should censor were raised. From Instagram blaming its algorithm’s censoring of activists on a “technical bug” to the rolling out of its “Sensitive Content Control,” which allows users to set limits around how much potentially sensitive content they might see on their Explore page, the line between Instagram’s Community Guidelines and Recommendation Guidelines has become more ambiguous than it ever has been. Countries like China, Russia, Iran and Uganda have banned Instagram, temporarily or permanently. Instagram bans in these countries are largely due to the desire to censor information, especially during times of conflict, protest or uprising.

Features

• Stories
• Reels
• IGTV
• Messenger
• Shopping
• Search & Explore

Ethical Implications

Instagram falls under frequent criticism for the way that it blocks or removes content on the platform. The site provides limited information about how it makes decisions about unacceptable content, leading to worries that the systems could be biased.

Banning Hashtags

Hashtags on Instagram may not be searchable if the text or the content associated with the hashtag consistently do not follow its Terms of Use or Community Guidelines. Users can still tag their photos with them, but doing so is meaningless because no one will be able to search for them. Hashtags are blocked in several different ways:

• Permanent blocks: for tags that are permanently blocked, they return to a 404 error page.
• New posts moderated: for tags that are only temporarily blocked, Instagram shows "top posts" but not "new posts".
• "No posts yet" error message: for some tags, Instagram simply says that there are no relevant photos.
• Content warning: for tags related to eating disorders, suicide or self-harm, and private sales of firearms, Instagram attaches a click-through content warning to them.

Some hashtags are banned permanently, while others are banned temporarily. Despite the list of banned hashtags changes from time to time, Instagram doesn't publish a constantly-updated list. With no direct information from Instagram and little consistency in which tags are blocked, it is difficult for users to navigate what Instagram is doing and why. The overview of Instagram's currently banned tags doesn't make the app look LGBT- or woman- friendly. With certain feminism- and identity-centered hashtags banned, some argue that Instagram is censoring women and the LGBT community. According to an Instagram spokesperson, "the community abused them, uploading nude and sexual content that defied Instagram’s content rules and tagging it with terms like #curvy, #goddess, and other words that aren’t typically associated with porn." Ultimately, the tags were restored.

Censoring Sensitive Content

In 2021, Instagram launched "Sensitive Content Control," allowing users to determine how much or how little "sensitive" content, like nudity, guns and violence, they'd like filtered out of their Explore pages. Specifically, there are three options: "Standard" is the default state, preventing people from seeing some sensitive content. "More" enables people to see more sensitive content, whereas "Less" means they see less of this content than the default state. Users can change the setting at any time, but there is one exception: the "More" option will not be available to people under 18. This filter was later expanded to cover all surfaces where Instagram make recommendations, including content in Explore, Search, Reels, Suggested Accounts, and Feed Recommendations.

Critics of the filter accuse Instagram for making it harder for users to see or share work that explores content that it deems "inappropriate." Reducing the risk associated with "sensitive" content is likely to risk limiting legitimate uses for sharing similar content. Indeed, posts that are considered "sensitive" may also be the ones that draw attention to pressing issues like abuse or police brutality. In addition, users won't have a say in what content is considered sensitive. Therefore, some demanded transparency and restoration of full access to content settings for users to apply or remove filters of their own volition, no default settings.

Sensitive Content Control

Censoring Political Speech

Following the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade that stripped away constitutional right to abortion, Instagram has been removing posts in which people offer to purchase, mail or share abortion pills to those in need, and even flagging content that promotes reproductive rights. Meta, the parent company of Instagram, pointed to its “regulated goods” policy that prohibits the sale of certain items, including pharmaceuticals, guns, alcohol, and drugs. Despite this, Instagram has let stand posts offering to share guns and marijuana although they also violate Meta’s rules. In addition, Instagram has suppressed pro-Palestinian content like posts expressing solidarity with Palestinians during the Sheikh Jarrah attack. In some cases, despite posts not transforming material that could reasonably be constructed as incitement to violence or hatred, users were not given an explanation for content removal or account suspension.

The ease with which Meta appears to have immediately blocked information about abortion pills and evidence of brutality and violence during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shows us that the company is constantly controlling which voices and what content are (or aren’t) given space on its platform, as well as its capability to effectively cut off access to certain information with a lack of transparency surrounding its content moderation practices. This is concerning because nearly half of Americans "often" or "sometimes" turn to social media for their news, and the Instagram censorship of political speech threatens to restrict this platform for learning and engaging on such issues.