LA woman's complaint video goes viral after Instagram removes her butt photo

MEGHAN TONJES VIA YOUTUBE

After Meghan Tonjes’ photo, inset, was taken down by Instagram, she posted a YouTube video discussing the incident — which prompted an apology from the social media site and her photo being reinstated.
All she wanted to do was post a butt selfie
.

But Los Angeles-based singer Meghan Tonjes, 28, got more than what she bargained for when a media firestorm erupted over a photo of her plus-sized, clothed rear end that she posted to Instagram.

The site deemed the photo inappropriate and removed it, which left Tonjes "confused and a little annoyed."

Instagram's community guidelines forbid "photos or videos that show nudity or mature content," but Tonjes said that her picture was neither. The social site also says that in the likely event users find something on the site that offends them, they shouldn't report it if it doesn't infringe Instagram's guidelines.

"We'd suggest you navigate away from the account, or even use our blocking feature," Instagram writes on its Help page.

But the mail Tonjes received after the site removed her photo "really led me in a circle," she told The Daily News. "There was no way to contact anyone, to get your questions answered. It was just, 'Your photo got reported, there must be something wrong with it.'"

Frustrated, on Monday Tonjes took to YouTube, where she video-blogs about her life on a regular basis, to address the social site.

"I have no shame," she said in the video, noting that she's documenting her weight loss and that beanpole-sized people are free to flaunt their bods in bathing suits and undies on the site as they please.

The video went viral, much to Tonjes' surprise. "I just figured some of my subscribers would watch it," she said. "I was hoping to tell my story and start a conversation. Then it kind of went crazy."

On Wednesday, Instagram released a statement to Today.com:

"We try hard to find a good balance between allowing people to express themselves creatively and keeping Instagram a fun and safe place," the spokesperson said. "Our guidelines put limitations on nudity and mature content, but we recognize that we don't always get it right. In this case, we made a mistake and have since restored the content."

Tonjes is happy with the statement, but says she wants the dialogue to continue.

"I don't want Instagram to have done this to avoid backlash — I'm hoping it's the first step in them looking at the reporting feature and making it more accessible for people to appeal decisions," she said.

There's still one person under the radar about Tonjes' situation though, she said --- her mother, who's out of town. But Tonjes isn't worried about her reaction.

"She raised me to be someone that doesn't take anything sitting down," she said.