Instagram removed a picture of a young boy with a facial deformity for violating the platform’s “guidelines,” according to a report.
According to the New York Post, “Charlie Beswick, from England, criticized the platform for removing a photo of her son Harry, 12, who has a facial deformity, after it was reported by another social media user.”
“Harry, who has a twin brother named Oliver, was born with Goldenhar syndrome and has no eye socket or nostril and also has a short jaw,” they explained. “Harry has a prosthetic eye, but when Beswick posted a picture of him without his eye in on Sunday, the picture was taken down two days later.”
In a post, Beswick criticized Instagram for removing pictures of her son, noting that this wasn’t the first time pictures had been removed, and claiming the platform hadn’t even apologized.
“If someone hates to look at my child then I have two things to say: a) scroll past and b) you’re an a*******. I’m beyond disgusted. Instagram needs to rectify this discrimination,” wrote Beswick. “What do you see when you look at my boy? I see the most beautiful smile, wonderful heart and purest love.”
“Sadly some people on Instagram feel that it’s too much to look at and have reported a picture of him (again.) Despite the fact that the picture Instagram removed had well over 2,300 likes and more than 200 lovely comments of support,” she continued. “Instagram hasn’t apologized – they’ve restored the photograph but not explained why it was removed in the first place or apologized.”
“It really upset me to have my child’s face taken off the platform and that it contravened some sort of guidelines. I have 11,700 followers and a really lovely community (of followers.) On the picture I had 2,300 likes, over 200 comments — all really nice supportive comments,” Beswick concluded. “Had they taken 30 seconds to look at the image they would see it was really well received and a high engagement post for them. I felt quite offended, quite confused.”
Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has since apologized for the incident, claiming, “We mistakenly removed the photo, but quickly restored it as soon as the mistake was brought to our attention… We have apologized to the family.”
Facebook has previously been criticized for censoring an image of an iconic naked statue of the Roman god Neptune, branding it “explicitly sexual,” and an iconic Vietnam War photograph of a crying naked girl after a napalm attack.
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook.
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