Instagram says it mistakenly removed 2-year-old's photo and then reinstated it

An Australian mother, Jorden Lee, had recently alleged that Instagram had taken down a picture of her daughter after trolls complained that the child's skin was "too dark". Instagram has now come forward with their side of the story.

Speaking to IBTimes UK, a spokesperson for the social media platform said: "We mistakenly removed the photo, but quickly restored it as soon as the mistake was brought to our attention. We have apologized to Ms Jones."

Instagram clarified that the picture was mistakenly removed for nudity and then restored when the error came to their notice.

Lee had shared the picture of her toddler, Winter, playing on a beach on 8 January. But soon she started getting hate comments on the picture with people pointing out the little girl's skin was dark.

The first comment on the picture stated: "It's disgusting to see how dark your daughter's skin is. Have you heard of suncream [sic]?".

Another comment read, "How about you start using it before your kid looks 40 at four. Horrible mother." The reactions on the little girl's photograph left Lee shocked and she decided to share another post to let people know about her ancestry.

"I was receiving a whole lot of kind messages and decided to post the photo explaining that we have an Aboriginal heritage on my mother's side so our skin is naturally dark and tans no matter how much sunscreen and zinc we wear," the mother had told the Mirror Online.

She added that she called trolls out and told them that she is "a real person with real feelings and emotions! I'm not just a robot".

However, what followed after that was even more disturbing for Lee as the next morning she found out that the social media giant had removed Winter's picture.

"I woke up, got the kids organised and sat down to check my Instagram only to open up my feed and have a notification from Instagram telling me I had breached their community guidelines," she said, alleging a lot of people had complained to Instagram about that particular picture.

"I was appalled and emailed the Instagram email but have not yet received a reply," Lee added.

Addressing the issue, the woman posted a picture of herself with Winter on her Instagram page, lifewithwinter, saying: "My child's skin is beautiful, I take all necessary measures to ensure her skin is protected and I wake up every dam day striving to be the best mother possible.

"If you don't like my posts or our skin colour offends you please just unfollow."

Lee also thanked those who stood by her and said that she has learnt a lot from this experience, but said that doesn't mean she would stop posting the photos.

"I will be more mindful of what I choose to share online," she wrote.

The headline and intro of this story, originally published on 10 January, was amended to incorporate comments from Instagram after the social media giant reached out to us following our request for inputs.