Kendall Jenner Posts Censored Nipple Picture to Celebrate 40 Million Instagram Followers

Impact

Supermodel and social media phenomenon Kendall Jenner reached 40 million Instagram followers on Wednesday. To celebrate, she posted a giggly picture featuring a purposeful nip-slip — censored, of course. 

"My favorite photo for all 40 mill of you. genuine happiness," Jenner captioned the revealing photo. The post has earned 1.1 million likes thus far, a typical response for the 20-year-old celebrity.

Uncensored pictures of nipples are prohibited from Instagram, a rule that has sparked backlash among female celebrities on the social media platform, which has led to nearly 3 million Instagram posts bearing the #freethenipple hashtag. After a picture involving supermodel Chrissy Teigen's bare nipple was removed in June, Teigen pushed back by uploading a series of the same image with various filters that made it look like a painting, "complying" with Instagram's rule that, "Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK," according to its guidelines.

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom said during an October event in London that tech-giant Apple, which houses Instagram in its App Store, is the reason the photo-sharing platform prohibits nudity. According to Systrom, Apple implements strict policies against inappropriate photos, and violating the policies could result in the banishment of Instagram from the App Store.