While images of sexual intercourse, genitals and close-ups of fully nude buttocks have been banned, the updated guidelines allow breast-feeding pictures. The guidelines also mention that nudity of sculpture or paintings are allowed to be uploaded.

Here are some important points from the Instagram guideline :

1. Share only photos and videos that you’ve taken or have the right to share.

2. Post photos and videos that are appropriate for a diverse audience.

3. People like to share photos or videos of their children. For safety reasons, there are times when we may remove images that show nude or partially-nude children. Even when this content is shared with good intentions, it could be used by others in unanticipated ways.

4. We have zero tolerance when it comes to sharing sexual content involving minors or threatening to post intimate images of others.

5. Help us stay spam-free by not artificially collecting likes, followers or shares, posting repetitive comments or content, or repeatedly contacting people for commercial purposes without their consent.

6. We want to foster a positive, diverse community. We remove content that contains credible threats or hate speech, content that targets private individuals to degrade or shame them, personal information meant to blackmail or harass someone, and repeated unwanted messages.

7. It’s never OK to encourage violence or attack anyone based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, disabilities, or diseases.

Last month, Instagram was severely criticised for removing a picture of a fully clothed woman with menstrual blood stain visible in the picture.

Instagram’s guideline clarification were made public just after Facebook updated its similar guidelines.