Instagram apologises and reinstates for removing picture of two men kissing

Instagram apologized for taking down the picture of two men kissing. On June 30, a London-based photographer, Stella Asia Consonni, posted the picture of Jordan Bowen and Luca Lucifer on the social media site. Just after the picture was posted, Instagram removed the picture ‘because it violated their community guidelines’. This led to an outrage with many activists slamming the company.

They asked Instagram, “how is this ‘offensive and against guidelines?’, Would this be the same for a heterosexual couple kissing?” It even escalated to people being disgusted by Instagram’s blatant homophobia.

Instagram soon apologised for removing the post, and said, “This post was removed in error and we are sorry. It has since been reinstated.”

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The photo was published in I-D magazine, a British bi-monthly and is a part of a series, in which photographer Stella plans to explore modern relationships through portraits of couples.

Although Stella received homophobic messages since she first posted the photograph, it did not stop her. She reposted the picture saying that “there still is a long way to go to fight homophobia.”

Jordan and Luca also responded to the hate saying that their seven-year relationship has been reduced to a community guideline. Jordan posted the picture on Instagram saying, “Instagram spoon feeds us with rainbows and hashtags to appear in solidarity but it seems real people in love have no place here. This is discriminatory and archaic and violates our right as a couple.”

Instagram said that the photo is among the “millions of reports a week” they receive from offended users and that it should not have been removed.

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