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Instagram removes photos of boy with rare disorder

by 14 Comments

Charlie Beswick, mom of a boy with Goldenhar syndrome, recently faced Instagram deleting a photo of her son after the user’s reports. One of her twin boys, Harry, was born with this rare disorder, so he has no left eye, eye socket, nostril or left ear. He has a prosthetic eye, but when Charlie posted a photo without it – Instagram took it down two days later.

Reportedly, an anonymous user reported the photo to Instagram’s content moderation team. Even though it doesn’t violate any rules – the photo was deleted.

As expected, Charlie was furious with the social network. She tweeted about her problem and got retweeted over 117,000 times. In return to the user who reported the photo, multiple people reached to Instagram to bring the photo back. And so they did. But the mom claims this wasn’t the first time one of her photos was taken down. Also, she says she hasn’t received any apology or explanation from Instagram after they restored the photo.

On a daily basis, Charlie faces all kinds of negative comments and trolling on her account. As she tells Fox News, there are many heartless and rude comments and abuse. While she says the positive and supportive comments still outnumber the negative ones, I imagine it’s still hard to deal with the abuse. Sadly, it’s one of the things people are the most creative at.

Charlie’s son Harry doesn’t only suffer from Goldenhar syndrome, but also from autism and global learning delay. He also has a 3-minute-older brother, who is his greatest protector. Charlie posts stories about their life on her blog, Twitter and Instagram to encourage and inspire other families dealing with the same problems. On the retrieved Instagram photo, she wrote:

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!

As Fox News writes, Instagram has apologized to Charlie after all. Their spokeswoman said that they “mistakenly removed the photo, but quickly restored it as soon as the mistake was brought to [their] attention.” Still, this isn’t just about the apology and removing or not removing the photo. It’s about what caused the removing.

Instagram bans photos that depict nudity, celebrate organized crime or terrorism, or glorify self-injury. They also don’t allow bullying or harassment based on someone’s race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, disabilities or diseases. So basically, they broke their own rules by removing the photo. First, they removed the photo that doesn’t violate Instagram’s policy. And second, they removed it because someone was, basically, offended by a boy with a disability.

Okay, Instagram has corrected their mistake after they noticed it. If they sent the apology, even better (we have contacted them to confirm it). But what really makes me angry is those people who find a photo of a 12-year-old boy offensive. To all of them who reported the photo or wrote hateful comments, I can say what Charlie said: shame on you!

[via Fox News]

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  • Jimmy Harris

    My heart goes out to this family. But the mother knows her son is going to be a target of bullying. She knows what kind of people are out there on the internet. I don’t think it’s healthy for her kid to be exposed to that unnecessarily, and fear the mother’s exploiting him for the attention. All of those hashtags and copyright info typically appear when someone is looking to increase their social media exposure and build a brand. So I can’t help but get the feeling she’s using him and his condition for her own personal gain.

    If the mother wants to raise awareness for her kids condition, she can do so without exposing him to all of that. Then, when the kid is older, he can make the decision if he wants to live a more public life to raise awareness for his condition. But right now, he’s just a kid. He’s got enough problems without having to be a poster child. Just being an average kid is hard enough these days.

    • James Martin

      “But the mother knows her son is going to be a target of bullying. She knows what kind of people are out there on the internet.”

      BUT that’s just the point, cyber bullying needs to end! In fact, your comment doesn’t placate the mis-informed and idiotic cyber morons out there… it only helps to justify them.

      • Dunja0712

        @James and @disqus_HXITT2I4kF:disqus
        It’s a really tough topic. On the one hand, I agree with Jimmy. The boy is still young and perhaps he should be able to be left to decide for himself when he grows up. And people can really be freakin’ horrible. I grew up in a time without the internet, and I still got to be bullied because of my looks. Now, with the social media, the bullying got totally new dimensions.

        But on the other hand, this is one of the ways to break the stereotypes and empower other families with the same problem.

        Personally, I don’t know what I’d go with if I were in the mom’s place. It’s hard to tell, and only she knows what she’s going through. Either way, my heart goes out to her and her two wonderful boys. I believe it hasn’t been easy for them.

      • Jimmy Harris

        Whoa! Nothing I said helps to justify bullying of any kind, in any way! Why would you think that? Just because you are aware of the bad actions of others beforehand doesn’t give them a right to commit those actions! What a terrible world that would be!

        @lewisfrancis:disqus I hope you’re right and I just misinterpreted the story. Maybe the mother is able to shield he son from the bad elements and filter it for use as a positive reinforcement tool. I certainly don’t know the whole story, and probably shouldn’t have judged her so harshly without knowing all of the facts. But I have seen many parents use their kid’s disabilities to generate sympathy and attention for themselves in the past, and that’s clearly wrong. Due to the way I interpreted this article, that’s kind of the vibe I was picking up. Perhaps my perception is too tainted by my own experiences and made unreliable.

        @dunja0712:disqus You’re right. It’s a tough call either way.

    • lewisfrancis

      I’m guessing the kid isn’t on Instagram, himself, and so thus isn’t exposed to it. All those hashtags is how you promote on social media, so if she’s trying to raise attention for her son’s medical conditions and its affect on families of such children, she’s doing it right.

  • Some day people will mind their own business and not think they are the world’s police. some day…

  • A thing I got to learn some time ago (when you really start paying attention) is that vast majority of people are Stupid, Uneducated, Selfish and Mean.

  • Instagram is a huge network, so I get why it must have automated systems. But maybe the threshold of response needs to be adjusted? It’s very unsettling that this sort of thing is happening on a regular basis, and so easily.

    We need companies like Facebook and Instagram to uphold policies that resonate with First Amendment rights, not demonstrate the pitfalls of our technology.

  • Horrible to remove these photo’s. They’re people like you and me. 😟

  • Nadine Spires

    People are nasty because they hate themselves and their lives. People like that are worth nothing. Charlie and Harry are worth more than those idiots combined.

  • Really? Thanks Instagram for being such a discriminating fascist! Welcome to the SS, you belong there. Assholes.

    • Only person from ‘murica would use woords like fascist and SS, describing things they just don’t like…
      😀

  • To be fair that kid looks like hes been melted

  • Instagram is shit thats why. They literally have 0 people working there and all bots.

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