Influencer Honey Ross has hit out at Instagram after it banned one of her photos. Photo / Instagram, Honey Ross
Influencer Honey Ross has hit out at Instagram after it banned one of her photos. Photo / Instagram, Honey Ross
A UK influencer has accused Instagram of hating "fat bodies" after the social media site banned a bikini photo of her.
Honey Ross, a body positivity activist, revealed to her Instagram followers that a photo of her swimming in a pool taken from behind had been removed.
Instagram had banned the photo reportedly because it "goes against our community guidelines".
In their response to Honey, Instagram said that it doesn't allow "nudity and sexual activity", "graphic violence" and "hate speech, harassment and bullying" — even though there appeared to be none in the banned shot.
Sharing a screenshot of the ban notice the 23-year-old asked Instagram: "Why don't you just say you hate fat bodies?"
Instagram banned the bikini body for violating community guidelines. Photo / Honey Ross / Instagram
The banned pictured was taken last year and showed her going for a swim in the same blue and white bikini she wore at Iceland's Blue Lagoon in another photo.
During that trip Honey had also posed nude while overlooking the famous blue water — with that photo not banned by Instagram.
Honey is an activist for body-positivity and the daughter of UK talk show host Jonathan Ross and movie screenwriter Jane Goldman.
Earlier this week she opened up about how she had struggled with her weight as a teen and how her famous parents had "tried to give her solutions to her problem" which was to "lose weight".
The banned photo was taken during Honey's trip to Iceland last year, when she shared this photo of her in the same bikini. Photo / Honey Ross / Instagram
"They saw me, a teenage girl coming home saying, 'I hate my body'," Honey said.
"They tried to give me solutions to a problem I brought to them, which was to lose weight.
"They presented me with diets and diets, as we know, don't work and are absolutely toxic.
"My advice to parents is keep that as far away from your children as possible, if you want them to have a good relationship with food and their bodies growing up do not shame them."
Honey told UK morning show Loose Women that when she found Instagram it gave her a place to express herself.
"From a young age, I felt I didn't have any control over my image," she said.
"I felt I didn't have a place to carve out my own identity. I found Instagram and I was like, I can express myself and show people who I really am. It was a way for me to figure myself out better."
