Music

Instagram bans the #EDM hashtag

by Jesse Locke

In a move that may or may not hit close to home, Instagram has taken a surprising stand against Electronic Dance Music by wiping all traces of the ubiquitous #EDM hashtag. With the quickness of a thousand coding hands, the phrase can no longer be searched for or clicked, rendering it as useless as a drained glow stick.

While this action was originally suspected to be a response to two deaths from alleged drug overdoses at the recent HARD Summer EDM festival in Los Angeles, the social media photo app has now issued a statement to TIME Magazine.

“In this case, #EDM was being used to share content that violates our guidelines around nudity,” said Instagram spokesman Gabe Madway. He added that they are working on faster methods to restore previously blocked hashtags (such as the contentious #curvy, which was un-banned following a backlash in support of the body-positive term) and to better communicate its hashtag policies. There’s a two-word phrase that you’d have to explain to your grandparents.

As of today, the following hashtags are still active: #drugs, #EDMBabes, #EDMGirls and #lennykravitzpenisgate

[h/t Dancing Astronaut]