Instagram has been blocking psoriasis hashtags - here's why it matters

I was scrolling through Twitter recently when I saw some posts saying the photo-sharing platform Instagram was blocking psoriasis-related hashtags.

Posts with hashtags such as #psoriasiscommunity or #psoriasisawareness were no longer showing up in the app’s Explore feature.

Psoriasis Association, a prominent psoriasis charity in the UK, was calling for the social media company to undo the ban that was preventing people across the world from sharing psoriasis-related content.

Instagram has been called out for blocking specific hashtags or posts before. There are currently over 114,000 banned hashtags on the platform. This includes things such as #beautyblogger #books and #popular.

When it comes to skin conditions, a blocked hashtag may sound like a minor thing but here is why it’s important.

Why did Instagram block psoriasis hashtags?

Psoriasis is a common skin condition that is thought to affect around 100 million people worldwide. It’s a type of immune condition, which causes the skin replacement process to speed up, causing raised ‘plaques’ on the skin.

Celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Cara Delevigne both have the condition and have been credited with raising awareness about psoriasis.

For charities such as Psoriasis Association, social media platforms like Instagram are instrumental in allowing them to publicise the condition and support those affected by it.

“People living with Psoriasis use these hashtags on Instagram to see what other people living with the condition are posting,” explains Dominic Urmston, digital communications officer at the charity.

“They can find people who share similar experiences who they can chat to and support one another. Also, it empowers them so they can share images of their psoriasis and post about their experiences too.”

However, last week, the charity realised the social media platform was blocking the hashtags. A prominent psoriasis awareness campaigner, Holly Dillon, raised the issue with the charity who has since launched a campaign to find out what’s going on.

“The fact that several psoriasis-related hashtags seem to be censored, when a lot of the images contain visible psoriasis, you have to wonder if that’s something to do with the content of the images,” says Urmston. “Is visible psoriasis being deemed in some way offensive or undesirable to be seen on Instagram?”

The business of banning hashtags

Instagram came under fire two years ago after it was banning images of female nipples. An account with the handle @genderless_nipples, began posting images of both male and female nipples to raise awareness of the issue. In addition, Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, was censoring famous works of art due to female nudity.

The company has since changed its community guidelines to allow photos of mastectomy scarring, women actively breastfeeding, as well as nudity in paintings and sculptures.

In order to raise awareness about the banned psoriasis hashtags, Psoriasis Association launched a petition about the issue. It has had nearly 2,700 signatures at the time of writing.

“Our theory was that if we could show there was a lot of people’s interest and a real will [to Instagram], then we could get these posts reinstated,” says Urmston.

Social media expert Jodie Cook says that using a banned hashtag can impact the reach of a post.

"Currently, using just one banned hashtag in your post means all the other hashtags used in the post are undiscoverable too, so Instagram really punishes you for using them.

"The banning decision can be contentious because it’s unclear whether it serves to include or alienate. The Psoriasis Association’s petition would indicate they see the hashtag as positive and useful to people with the skin condition," says Cook.

What is Instagram going to do about the ban?

It looks like the petition has had an impact. In a statement to the Evening Standard, Instagram’s Head of Public Policy, EMEA, Michelle Napchan, said:

“People use Instagram to connect around the things that matter to them, including sharing their experiences of psoriasis to raise awareness of the condition and get support from the Instagram community. In this instance, some psoriasis-related hashtags had been temporarily restricted while we removed spam content which violated our guidelines.

"The issue has now been resolved and these hashtags can again be freely used by the community in the spirit in which they were intended," she added.

However, Urmston says the Psoriasis Association still hasn’t had a response from the company and a number of hashtags, such as #psoriasislife and #psoriasissupport still appear to be blocked.

“We still haven’t heard from Instagram ourselves but we are pleased to see that a number of hashtags are reinstated. We are also pleased to see that Instagram is taking seriously the amount of support that people who are living with psoriasis offer one another through their platform.

“In light of the last few days’ events, we would urge Instagram to consider its moderation policies and how they could be improved to ensure that the content of entire hashtags are not censored and communities are not cut off from vital support networks, while reports of spam or inappropriate posts are investigated,” he says.

You can join Psoriasis Association in its campaigning by signing the petition here.