Instagram has apologised to a rape victim for removing a caption on her account where she detailed her alleged sexual assault.
Amber Amour, the 27-year-old feminist activist who was visiting South Africa to promote her "Stop Rape, Educate" campaign posted a photo of herself with tears running down her face moments after she claims she was raped in a shower.
The post has since gone viral and been picked up by media across the world, but last weekend Instagram removed her caption because it "violated community guidelines".
Speaking to HuffPost UK about the post's removal, Amour said: "I felt like it was a slap in the face. I felt like Instagram was choosing the side of the rapist. Have they not seen the thousands of posts on my page of survivors around the world detailing their own rapes? Why, exactly, did they remove mine? And I'd like to know, how did my post violate the community guidelines? My head is full of questions!
"I feel like they are supporting rape culture by silencing me. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of pornographic accounts on Instagram depicting sex with children, rape, and violence against women. I simply told a story, MY story, and they erased it from their history."
Amber Amour blogs exclusively on HuffPost UK: I Know Rape Survivors Have Their Stories Doubted - So I Decided to Tell My Own
HuffPost UK contacted Instagram on Monday for comment and the site has since reinstated the caption, which they say was removed in error.
Speaking to HuffPost UK, a spokesperson said: "It took a lot of courage for Amber to share her story, and we want to extend to her our deepest apology. We made a mistake and have restored the content. We always want our community to feel safe and supported, and to be able to discuss tough topics and experiences with one another."
Once Amour realised the captions had been removed she reposted it, but claims Instagram deleted it a second time. She says that "silencing" survivors of sexual assault "openly supports rapists and rape culture".
She wrote: "This is evidence of a crime and Instagram obviously and openly supports rapists and rape culture by silencing survivors of sexual assault who speak up on social media. There are dozens of rape fetish pages, child porn pages, and pages that depict the enslavement of women but lo & behold a woman speaks up against these things and they silence her."
The photo in question was posted more than a month ago, moments after the alleged rape took place more than a month ago.
When asked why she decided to post the story in the first place, Amour told HuffPost UK: "I was determined to tell my story because I was unsure of how things would go in court. I knew that I had a fan base at the time of 20,000 survivors who had been through what I had been through and would support me. I never expected for some of them to turn on me and against me."
Amour's account of the incident is as follows:
She said she went to the hostel, where she had been staying. A man she knew was there and she says he was "desperately trying to get with" her.
She says she kissed him once, but then told him it was "bad timing" as she had "already met someone".
She went upstairs and the man followed, telling her that he was about to take a shower. When he invited her to join him, she said yes because she was unwell and the water at her then-hostel was cold.
Amour then shares a graphic description of the rape and how she eventually passed out. She claims the man who raped her was arrested and has been released on bail.