Nudity ban defended by social media network

The picture-sharing social network Instagram has defended its decision to ban nudity following protests from American celebrities.

Scout Willis – daughter of the Hollywood actor Bruce Willis – called on Instagram to lift the ban after they suspended her account for posting an image that did not comply with the platform’s terms of use.

The social network’s CEO said, however, that the rules were in place to make the platform “the safest possible place for teens and adults”.

Safe

Kevin Systrom said: “Our goal is really to make sure that Instagram, whether you’re a celebrity or not, is a safe place and that the content that gets posted is something that’s appropriate for teens and also for adults.

“We need to make certain rules to make sure that everyone can use it.”

The basic terms of use include being at least 13 and agreeing not to post violent, nude or partially nude photos.

Inappropriate

The complexities around enforcing the rules came to the fore in May, when Instagram flagged singer Rihanna’s account for the inappropriate images she had posted.

Last year, the app had to block certain search terms associated with the sale of illegal drugs.

Systrom said: “The thing is, we know about the challenge and we’re on top of it with technology and people.

Success

“We have all sorts of teams in place both scanning content and listening to community reports, making sure that the right type of content is being posted.”

Instagram has enjoyed a lot of success since it was founded in 2010.

Some 60 million photos are shared on Instagram every day and in April 2012, Facebook bought the photo-sharing network for £629 million.

Systrom told BBC Newsbeat: “We’re now in such a better place where we’re growing very quickly and the service is stable”.