How to analyze and compare a hashtag on Instagram: #curvy case August 10, 2015
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 6:17 am
In mid-July, Instagram drew fierce criticism from its users, online media, and social media in general. The reason? It decided to block the hashtag #curvy (curvy/chubby) from search results, claiming that posts with this hashtag violated Instagram's nudity policy . Users could continue using the hashtag (who could stop them?), but the content wouldn't appear in searches , which was effectively the equivalent of silencing them.
Curiously, other hashtags with more explicit pornographic content , such as #vaginas, #clitoris or #dildo, and those related to the opposite extreme of #curvy, such special lead as #skinny, remained active and without problems.
The response was swift: hashtags like #curvygirl and #curvee began to proliferate on Instagram and unite protests against the lockdown. Until a few days later, on July 23, Instagram reversed course and #curvy returned to life in search results.
But is the #curvy hashtag really so decisive that Instagram decided to block it? How far-reaching was the protest, and how has it evolved? It's enough to ban something, as they say, for people to want to use it, consume it, and practice it. To test this, I used Pirendo to monitor the hashtags #curvy, #curvee, #curvygirl, and #skinny on Instagram between July 20 and August 9. And this was the result :
1. Evolution in impressions
Instagram impressions are the number of potential impressions a post has —that is, the number of times a post has potentially been displayed in users' timelines. As the evolution graph shows, the end of the #curvy hashtag ban generated a notable peak on July 25 , which then dropped significantly and rebounded sporadically in early August. Meanwhile, the "alternative" hashtag #curvee has had a much more consistent and higher impression impact, and #curvygirl has maintained a lower profile, and is quite low, especially after the "liberation" of #curvy. The hashtag #skinny, meanwhile, follows an autonomous pattern, sometimes surpassing #curvy in impact. Ultimately, the ban on the #curvy hashtag only fueled its impact once it was "liberated"; but in reality, #curvee has a greater and more sustained impact over time. Did Instagram make a mistake in its targeting?
Curiously, other hashtags with more explicit pornographic content , such as #vaginas, #clitoris or #dildo, and those related to the opposite extreme of #curvy, such special lead as #skinny, remained active and without problems.
The response was swift: hashtags like #curvygirl and #curvee began to proliferate on Instagram and unite protests against the lockdown. Until a few days later, on July 23, Instagram reversed course and #curvy returned to life in search results.
But is the #curvy hashtag really so decisive that Instagram decided to block it? How far-reaching was the protest, and how has it evolved? It's enough to ban something, as they say, for people to want to use it, consume it, and practice it. To test this, I used Pirendo to monitor the hashtags #curvy, #curvee, #curvygirl, and #skinny on Instagram between July 20 and August 9. And this was the result :
1. Evolution in impressions
Instagram impressions are the number of potential impressions a post has —that is, the number of times a post has potentially been displayed in users' timelines. As the evolution graph shows, the end of the #curvy hashtag ban generated a notable peak on July 25 , which then dropped significantly and rebounded sporadically in early August. Meanwhile, the "alternative" hashtag #curvee has had a much more consistent and higher impression impact, and #curvygirl has maintained a lower profile, and is quite low, especially after the "liberation" of #curvy. The hashtag #skinny, meanwhile, follows an autonomous pattern, sometimes surpassing #curvy in impact. Ultimately, the ban on the #curvy hashtag only fueled its impact once it was "liberated"; but in reality, #curvee has a greater and more sustained impact over time. Did Instagram make a mistake in its targeting?