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Instagram bans content and hashtags promoting self-harm

Instagram bans content and hashtags promoting self-harm

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Following similar moves by Pinterest and Tumblr, Instagram has updated its community guidelines to prohibit "accounts, images, or hashtags dedicated to glorifying, promoting, or encouraging self-harm."

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Instagram self-harm search
Instagram self-harm search

Following similar moves by Pinterest and Tumblr, Instagram has updated its community guidelines to prohibit "accounts, images, or hashtags dedicated to glorifying, promoting, or encouraging self-harm." Instagram says that the guideline is intended to "maintain a positive and healthy community," but that the rules don't apply to accounts that are "created to constructively discuss, or document personal experiences that show any form of self-harm where the intention is recovery or open discussion." The service is asking users to help identify and flag the unfavorable content, and will disable accounts that encourage users "to embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or to cut, harm themselves, or commit suicide." In the future, hashtags that are associated with self-harm but don't actively promote it will give users warnings before related content becomes visible.