You May Soon Be Able to Free the Nipple on Instagram

The app’s CEO just hinted at big changes ahead.

We’ve been following the Instagram vs. nipples battle very closely here at Maxim, including Chrissy Teigen and Naomi Campbell’s attempts to bare it all on the app. The app’s co-founder and CEO, Kevin Systrom, recently clarified exactly why nipples are banned, placing the blame on Apple rating the app as 12+. (As many have pointed out Twitter is rated 4+ and there are porn GIFs galore floating around.)

But we have hope yet! Mashable reports that at Vanity Fair‘s New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, Systrom was forced to confront the issue once again while speaking on a panel with Lena Dunham and Katie Couric. When the talk turned to Instagram’s nudity policy, Couric asked Systrom if he had ever considered making an R-rated version of the app.

According to Mashable, “‘There have been discussions,’” he said, noting that it becomes a slippery slope about “‘who decides what’s R-rated.’ ‘We’re not in the business of hosting porn,’” he added. ‘We focus on people being able to express themselves in beautiful ways.’”

This makes us hopeful: After all, nipples aren’t porn, and all this added public pressure and discussions about an R-rated app may very well just result in a change. 

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