London-based Black model Nyome Nicholas-Williams had posted professionally photographed semi-naked pictures of herself on Instagram. The photos were taken down by the app claiming that the post featuring nudity or sexual activity was going against their community guidelines.

Calling out Instagram for its apparent racism, Nyome wrote, Millions of pictures of very naked, skinny white women can be found on Instagram every day. But a fat black woman celebrating her body is banned? It was shocking to me. I feel like I'm being silenced. Meanwhile, Nyome's photographer Alexandra Cameron backed the model, stating that her semi-naked photographs of white models were never taken down by the social media app. I have posted photos of many more women – white women – who had [fewer] clothes on than Nyome that never got reported or deleted. This was the first time it happened to me, and it kept happening because I kept reposting the pictures and they kept getting deleted, and you have to ask why. What is it about a plus-size black woman’s body that is so offensive and so sexualised? The Playboy feed is filled with naked white models and it’s all for the male gaze, which is the opposite of what I do, and they're allowed to stay, Cameron said.

Since then, Instagram saw the trend #IwanttoseeNyome from thousands of users, demanding the restoration of the picture. Following this, Nyome penned a note on Instagram, which read, Okay great Instagram has put @alex_cameron and I’s picture back up as they knew they made a mistake but I am getting so many messages from my followers letting me know that they still cannot post up the images in support with the hashtag #iwanttoseenyome. I very much believe that an apology has to be as loud as the disrespect. It’s all well and good putting my image back up but why do you continually take them down from everyone else’s stories and grid when support wants to be given so that CHANGE can be implemented?

Claiming that Instagram had apologized to her but that she is yet to see a major change, the model further added, I spoke with Instagram earlier and I was apologised to about my images being wrongly taken down, but it’s not loud enough and I am still not seeing change. I won’t stop speaking about this, a change has to be actively made or my mouth will keep running...tbh when changes are made my mouth will continue to run as there is always work to do and things can always be better.