Mommy blogger Courtney Adamo, who writes for online boutique Babyccino Kids, had her Instagram account shut down Thursday for "violating the community guidelines," she wrote on her blog.
My IG account has been deleted for no good reason. If you can help in any way, please get in touch. Thank you so so so much. xx Courtney
The mom of four wrote that Instagram removed a handful of pictures from her feed for being "inappropriate," but didn't tell her which pictures they were:
After a bit of research I discovered that if you receive too many reports of 'inappropriate' images, it sends a red flag to the Instagram team and their automated service will disable your account entirely, without warning and without notice. Last week I received five different emails from Instagram to notify me of these reports and to tell me they had removed images from my feed.
Please @instagram will you review my account. I promise you will not find any photos that violate any of your guidelines! courtneybabyccino
The night before her account was suspended, Adamo had posted a photo of her little girl, Marlow, wearing yellow rainboots and "her 'big girl undies.'"
"I thought it was such a sweet photo of my baby girl and her gorgeous, round belly (and outie belly button). And I love that her pride is so evident in the photo — such a sweet and innocent shot of a successful day of potty-training."
By the next morning, Adamo had received another warning email and the photo had been removed from her feed.
The London resident wrote that she re-read the guidelines and was positive she had not violated any of the Instagram rules.
"Unless a baby's belly is considered 'nudity' … but surely it isn't! She is a BABY! It is no different than a photo of a baby wearing a nappy, or a little boy in swim trunks, and to entertain the idea that it is even remotely inappropriate is a disgusting thing in itself," Adamo wrote.
She reposted the photo. The next day, her account was disabled.
The blogger's account is still suspended, and she wrote that she's heartbroken that all of her photos and comments are gone. "Instagram has deleted four years of my family photos and memories," she said.
h/t Jezebel
Update — June 22, 10:04 a.m. ET: Adamo told BuzzFeed she has yet to hear from anyone at Instagram, and said she is bothered they make no differentiation between "innocent childhood imagery and child pornography."
"I really do want to get my Instagram account back and will continue to use it if I do," she said. "I also want to make sure that my experience is educational for others and changes an Instagram policy that is overbearing and imbalanced."
Update — June 23, 2:40 p.m.: Instagram has reinstated Adamo's account and said they made a mistake, a spokesperson told BuzzFeed.
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 recognize that we don't always get it right. In this case, we made a mistake and have since restored the account.