User reported photo of Harry Beswick, 12, who has no left eye, to app’s content moderators, prompting outrage

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Instagram has apologized for taking down a photo of a boy with a facial disfigurement after another user reported it to the app’s content moderation team.

Twelve-year-old Harry Beswick was born with Goldenhar syndrome, which means he has no left eye, eye socket, nostril or left ear. His mother, Charlie, runs a parenting blog and Instagram account where she posts about parenting Harry and his twin brother Oliver.

Beswick posted a photo to Instagram in which Harry was not wearing his prosthetic eye. According to Charlie, another Instagram user reported the image, and when Instagram’s content moderation team reviewed it, they decided it breached community guidelines. The picture was removed.

Charlie Beswick (@ouralteredlife) Someone is reporting my son's face & #Instagram agree saying it doesn't meet their guidelines before removing it. RT to support me in this! pic.twitter.com/XxOvthBT5O

Beswick complained about the decision on social media, with a tweet that was shared thousands of times. In a longer Facebook post, she wrote: “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).

“I’m beyond disgusted. Instagram need to rectify this discrimination!”

Instagram’s community guidelines ban photos deemed “inappropriate for a diverse audience” including those that depict nudity, celebrate organized crime or terrorism, or glorify self-injury. The app also bans content used to bully or harass anyone because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, disability or injury.

In this case, the photo was removed for bullying, possibly because the reviewer misinterpreted the lighthearted comment that accompanied it as offensive.

Many people contacted Instagram to express outrage over the decision, and the photo was restored.

“We mistakenly removed the photo, but quickly restored it as soon as the mistake was brought to our attention,” said an Instagram spokeswoman. “We have apologized to the family.”

Once the photo was restored, Beswick, who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, edited the description to read: “Note to the person who reported the last image of my son like this. It’s his face. If you’re offended then scroll past. Shame on you!”

Instagram has a team of content moderators, called community operations analysts, who review millions of reports from users and automated systems a week.

This is not the first time they’ve made a mistake. In March, the photo blogger Morgan Bartley’s 110-pound weight loss was reported and removed.

“It sucks that people express negativity toward something with only positive intentions,” she wrote once the picture was restored.

Instagram – and its parent company, Facebook – have also waged a continuing battle against the female nipple. This led to a campaign in 2015 that encouraged women to photoshop male nipples on to their topless photos to test the censorship policy.

Similarly, a trio of advertising students – Evelyn Wyss, Morgan-Lee Wagner and Marco Russo – set up the @genderless_nipples Instagram account in which they post close-up shots of nipples in which it’s impossible to determine the sex of the person they belong to.

In another case, Instagram reportedly confused a cake for a naked breast.