On Monday, Instagram updated its apps to let users put emoji in hashtags. Emoji is so common on the social network, it only makes sense that Instagram would let people search posts based on smiley faces, high fives, fire, see-no-evil monkeys, and more.
I noted that I can’t wait to see the pool of images hashtagged with the poop emoji.
And despite its risk of abuse, the poop emoji is still a searchable hashtag on Instagram. But you know what’s not? The eggplant emoji.
Which means that Instagram, in its infinite wisdom, has confirmed something we all already knew – that’s no eggplant.
Just like Instagram choose not to fetch results for hashtag searches like #penis, #butt, #dick, #porn, #boobs and many, many more – Instagram has decided that a search result page for the eggplant emoji would likely be a cesspool of, well, eggplants.
Instagram confirmed that the eggplant ban.
Earlier this month, Instagram took a harder line on nudity.
Instagram has always banned nudity and has been quick to remove posts that violate that policy – but now the lines are more clear. Instagram takes the same stance on nudity as its parent company Facebook.
“We know that there are times when people might want to share nude images that are artistic or creative in nature, but for a variety of reasons, we don’t allow nudity on Instagram. This includes photos, videos, and some digitally-created content that show sexual intercourse, genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. It also includes some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too,” says Instagram’s new terms.
And Instagram knows exactly what’s going to happen with that eggplant emoji. Oddly enough, you can search for a double eggplant emoji hashtag.