Mum hits out after photo of her son with facial deformity is removed from Instagram

A furious mum has received an apology from popular social media site Instagram after an image of her son was removed from its site.

Harry Beswick was born with Goldenhar syndrome, which means he has no left eye, eye socket nostril or left ear.

Mum Charlie, who runs a blog and Instagram account dedicated to parenting with a special needs child, said Instagram removed the picture in question after deciding that it breached 'community guidelines'.

She added that this wasn't the first time that this had happened, as an earlier photo of Harry without his prosthetic eye in place had also been taken down.

Charlie used her Twitter account to vent her anger at the decision, posting the image alongside the caption: 'Someone is reporting my son's face and #Instagram agree saying it doesn't meet their guidelines before removing it.'

And her message certainly resonated with her followers, as it quickly received more than 53,000 retweets and 27,000 likes

According to Charlie, a user of the Instagram app had reported the image to Instagram's content moderation team before it was removed.

Speaking during an appearance on Good Morning Britain, the mum-of-two explained: 'There are hundreds of pictures on my Instagram account but only two have been removed, and both were when Harry's prosthetic eye was missing. Ignore the picture, scroll past.'

'I contacted Instagram initially when the first photo had been taken down in August but got no response, so this time round I took to Twitter.'

'It's his face...' Harry's twin brother Oliver said on the show. 'Like my mum said you can just scroll down.'

Charlie also shared a post on her Facebook page, writing: 'What do you see when you look at my boy? I see the most beautiful smile, wonderful heart and purest love. Sadly some people on Instagram feel that it's too much to look at and have reported a picture of him (again).'

An Instagram spokeswoman told the Guardian: 'We mistakenly removed the photo, but quickly restored it as soon as the mistake was brought to our attention... We have apologized to the family.'

After the photo was restored, Charlie, from Stoke-on-Trent, edited the description to read: 'Note to the person who reported the last image of my son like this. It's his FACE. If you're offended then scroll past. Shame on you!'