Mum's Instagram account reinstated after she's banned for posting pic of toddler's tummy

When we reported what had happened, MFMers on Twitter reacted with astonishment: 'It's ridiculous," tweeted @those2mums. "It's pure innocence. Instagram is full of men and women showing their bodies in a sexual way!! Grrrr!"

And @megomerrett added: "Lush photo, precious moment, silly Instagram. They need to crack down on teens in their undies not this sort of pic."

Courtney herself told her exactly what had happened and why she'd posted the photo: “Marlow is potty-training," she said, "and was very proud to be wearing 'big girl undies'."

Soon after posting the picture, the mum-of-4 says she started receiving ‘warning’ emails from the social network, telling her they had removed one of her photos for ‘violating the community guidelines’.

Instagram’s terms state that “you may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content via the Service".

But, although the photo does expose Marlow's toddler belly, Courtney really didn't see how this counted as ‘nudity’.

“The photo showed her round belly," she said, "and, if you look very closely, her left nipple. She is a baby. To me, this is not nudity, and I thought it was such a gorgeous photo of her sweet belly and how proud she was to be wearing underpants.

"But when I first posted it up, the photo was removed from my IG feed and I received an email from Instagram."

Courtney then re-read Instagram’s terms of use and decided to re-post the photo. “I truly believe this photo does not violate any of the rules," she says. "A baby's belly is not nudity. Also, I wonder, if this had been a baby boy, would the photo have been allowed to stay?”

But by that evening, Courtney’s account – which had over 36,000 followers – has been deleted.

“I was devastated to lose 4 year's worth of my photos," said Courtney.

"The photos document our family travels and all the places we've been, the notes I've written about my children and their personality traits and milestones, the sweet comments from friends and family and the personal Direct Messages from my siblings who I rarely see in person."

“It's a tasteful feed with innocent family photos."

After reinstating Courtney's account,a spokesperson for Instagram said: "We try hard to find a good balance between allowing people to express themselves creatively and having policies in place to protect young children.

"This is one reason why our guidelines put limitations on nudity, but we recognise that we don't always get it right. In this case, we made a mistake and have since restored the account."

At MFM, we have previously reported how Instagram has removed pictures of breastfeeding women for violating the terms of use by showing their nipples – although in a non-sexual way. But removing pictures of children that show a bit of flesh is a new one on us.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below…

Photo: Courtney Adamo

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