Madonna criticized Instagram for removing a post showing her nipple and called censorship of breasts 'astounding'

• Madonna criticized Instagram after the platform allegedly removed photos showing one of her nipples.
• Madonna wrote in a post that she's thankful to have made it through four decades of "censorship."

Madonna criticized Instagram after the platform allegedly removed a post with pictures that showed one of her nipples.

The "Material Girl" singer, who has over 17 million Instagram followers, took to the platform on Thursday to speak out after it allegedly removed a post that featured pictures with one of her nipples exposed. She made the initial post on Wednesday, according to PageSix and the Independent.

Madonna reshared the pictures, which featured the musician wearing fishnets and leather and posing on a white bed, in another Instagram post criticizing the platform on Thursday. She covered up her exposed nipples in three of the pictures with heart emojis. The post has amassed over 830,000 likes.

Purported screenshots of the original photos show that she had covered up one of her nipples with a heart emoji in one of the pictures in the first post.

In the description of the new post, Madonna alleged that Instagram took the photos down without "warning or notification" and told her management that the reason was because "a small portion of my nipple was exposed."

Madonna wrote that it was "astounding" to her that women's nipples could not be shown, while a man's nipple and a woman's butt are not "censored anywhere."

"Giving thanks that I have managed to maintain my sanity through four decades of censorship…… sexism……ageism and misogyny," she wrote, giving a nod to Thanksgiving, the day she made the post.

Instagram restricts "some photos of female nipples," but permits other nipple pictures including in the context of breastfeeding, birth- and health-related circumstances, and if the body part is exposed in paintings, sculptures, or as a form of protest, according to Instagram's Community Guidelines page on its website.

Instagram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There is a long history of people criticizing the platform for removing posts, including in August, when Instagram reportedly took down (and then soon reposted) a poster for director Pedro Almodovar's film "Parallel Mothers" that featured an image of a nipple with milk coming out of it, according to Variety. In 2014, Rihanna left Instagram soon after the platform removed pictures she posted that depicted exposed nipples, the Huffington Post reported.

In 2019, the Chinese political cartoonist Badiucao criticized Instagram after it reportedly removed art he made showing Chairman Mao riding an emu and a kangaroo because the post violated community standards, according to The Guardian.

A representative for Madonna did not respond to a request for comment.