Facebook and Instagram are pretty notorious for their tight-laced, stringent policies on partial nudity — just look at the many years of Free the Nipple campaigns and posts specifically calling out the social media company’s double standards. Now, though, there might actually be some positive change incoming. In a recent statement, the Meta Oversight Board seemed to suggest the current rules may be a little too medieval for modern times and recommended that the social media conglomerate “clarify” its guidelines on this kind of content.
The statement was part of the oversight board’s response to Instagram’s removal of two posts featuring pictures of a trans and nonbinary couple, Col and Ari, showing their bare chests (with their nipples covered) in 2021 and 2022. The posts were intended to raise awareness about a fundraiser for Ari’s top surgery, according to The New York Times, but Instagram took them down after other users reported them for violating the site’s Sexual Solicitation Community Standard by … showing covered breasts in a non-sexual way. Okay then.
