An activist who posted a picture of herself moments after being raped has criticised Instagram for apparently removing the message.

Amber Amour, who was promoting her "Stop Rape, Educate" campaign in South Africa, shared a picture on her Instagram account with tears running down her face moments after being raped.

The 27-year-old said she was having a shower with a drunk friend who forced himself on her, in a post which has since gone viral.

But the picture then appeared to have been removed by Instagram, prompting Ms Amour to tell the social media giant "you will not silence me".

Ms Amour told the social media platform she would like an explanation immediately.

"What the actual hell is going on? Since when is it against community guidelines to stand up for yourself?" she wrote on her account.

"You deleted the caption documenting the rape from my page, but guess what, that s*** has gone viral!"

She went on to say there was little point in deleting the caption since the message had already been shared and read thousands of times.

Instagram's community guidelines forbid sharing content that does not belong to users, inauthentic content, nudity, spam, offers for illegal goods or services, hate speech, threats, promotion of self-harm, and graphic or violent images.

Ms Amour originally posted a picture of herself visibly distressed after the incident, and one of herself later in hospital with a rape kit.

Alongside messages of support, she said she also received thousands of hate-filled messages.

She wrote then: "For those who wish to blame me or any other survivor out there, I want you to know that you are the very reason that I am so brutally honest.

"[...] You need to know the truth and to see the reality of the situation."

South Africa has one of the highest rape rates in the world, according to the US government's overseas security advisory council.