Instagram Bans A Bunch More Hashtags In Hope Of Evicting Its Criminal Underbelly As Advertisers Move In

Instagram has a banned a new bunch of hashtags that relate to drugs and drug dealing in an effort to squash the nascent trade in illegal substances that had cropped up on the photo-sharing app.

Business Insider told you back in October that Instagram was rife with dealers and users, some of whom posted clearly identifiable information about themselves.

It's not clear which words have been banned. A search for "marijuana" and "oxycontin" this morning yielded a bunch of results - people are still using those tags - but no obvious pictures of people dealing.

Instagram's terms of service have long banned images used for "unlawful" activity.

Recently, Instagram banned a bunch of controversial or crude hashtags - including #sex, #thinspo and #whitepower - as it prepares to ramp up its advertising clients. Advertisers started running ads in earnest on Instagram this week and the company (and its owner, Facebook) clearly want a media environment that won't embarrass its clients.