Instagram have been forced to apologise to a teen after deleting her account following pictures she posted of herself in a bikini.
Samm Newman was surprised when she logged online to find her account deleted after she posted an image of herself wearing a bikini.
The 19-year old, who says she used to self-harm and was bullied, found solace on Instagram when she made it college, and discovered the platform as an opportunity to promote a body positivity movement.
Newman previously explained her social networking hobby as her ‘safe place’ saying:
“My Instagram, it was my safe place because when I was there, I could share anything.
“I didn’t find them or the bra at all inappropriate. They covered me entirely and I’ve seen pictures like that all over Instagram.”
Instagram have since apologised for their decision to deactivate Samm’s account, with a spokesperson saying:
“We are truly sorry for our mistake here. When reviewing reported content from the Instagram community, we do not always get it right and we wrongly removed an account. As soon as we were made aware, we reactivated the account and restored the content.”
Newman has said she was so overwhelmed by the apology that she cried, and is delighted to have her account restored with all of her original images.
The original image of Samm Newman that led to the account being deactivated
