This Size 24 Woman Thinks Instagram Deleted Her Revealing Photos Due to Weight Discrimination

19-year-old Samm Newman is blaming her size for the removal of her account, which has since been restored

We have to wonder why stories like this keep popping up. What gives, Instagram?

Samm Newman, a 19-year-old woman from Ohio, recently had her Instagram account deleted, and she believes it's because she posted selfies of herself in her bra and underwear. And since Instagram frequently allows much more revealing photos of skinnier girls and guys to be displayed on the regular without interruption, we are inclined to agree with her.

For Samm, Instagram had become a safe place to be proud of her full figure and find other women like her who aren't ashamed of their size.  Posting photos to Instagram and seeing other girls displaying similar photos gave her a sense of empowerment and support, especially after spending her high school years getting bullied and feeling depressed to the point of self-harm. 

Her online world changed all that.

"My Instagram, it was my safe place because when I was there, I could share anything," Newman tells NBC 4.

And then that safe space disappeared. And since her photos weren't even that scandalous and her bra and underwear covered more than most bathing suits, Samm could only assume her Instagram was targeted because of her size.

"Fat is not a bad word," she says. "How confident can you be if you keep censoring yourself because people don't want to look at you? I didn't find [the underwear] or the bra at all inappropriate. They covered me entirely and I've seen pictures like that all over Instagram."

Instagram has since restored her account and released a statement as well as an apology for removing it in the first place:

"We are truly sorry for our mistake here. When reviewing reported content from the Instagram community, we do not always get it right and we wrongly removed an account. As soon as we were made aware, we reactivated the account and restored the content."

Despite the troubling situation and haters on Twitter, Samm is still determined to change the way society looks at women with bodies bigger than a size two.

"I'm going to make a difference in the world, regardless of whether Instagram cooperates or not," she says.

Rock on, girl. We think you're gorgeous and we wish we were as brave as you have been. And always remember: haters gonna hate.