Nude Photos on Instagram Story, Allowed or Not?

On Thursday afternoon - July 28, 2017, a Filipino character actor posted a naked photo of himself showing a portion of his genitalia on Instragram Story, which - to cut the long story short - led to three things:

1. He trended on Twitter.
2. More than handful of bloggers wrote about the incident.
3. Some netizens were left wondering if Instagram has relaxed its "nude photo" guidelines in Instagram Story, where entries disappear after a few minutes.

(Update: The actor has apologized on his social media accounts for this action, saying that he never intended to share the the shot but he was so tired and sleepy that he 'accidentally' pressed the share button. Many netizens - especially his followers - have accepted his apology.)

For those who are wondering if this is already allowed on IG since the actor's account is still active and it appears that he wasn't even penalized at all for posting the much-talked about image, here's Intagram's primary guideline as regards posting sexually explicit photos on the image sharing application:

"We know that there are times when people might want to share nude images that are artistic or creative in nature, but for a variety of reasons, we don’t allow nudity on Instagram. This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too." [source]

It appears that the same rule applies to Instragram Stories because users are given the option to report inappropriate uploads in that section of the application. For those who are unfamiliar with the process, here's how you do it:

1. Click on the stacked dots on the lower right corner of the shot that you want to report.


2. Click on the pop-up Report tab.


3. Choose "It's inappropriate" option.


4. You will given a list of reasons for reporting the post. Choose "Nudity or Pornography".


5. Click on the red Report button and if you want to, Block the user who uploaded the explicit photo.


Instagram aims to be an authentic and safe place for inspiration and expression. Users are invited to foster this community by posting only their own photos and videos as well as respecting all IG users by following the law and spamming people or posting nudity. Let's be responsible social media users.

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