Demi Lovato Receives Apology From Instagram Over Fat-Shaming Sponsored Ad

They've taken down the offending ad, saying it was "approved by mistake".

Demi Lovato has received an apology from Instagram, after calling out the social media site over a fat-shaming sponsored advert.

Earlier this week, the ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ singer put Instagram on blast after taking issue with an advert that appeared in her news feed that featured a slim cartoon girl with a “pretty” label, while a heavier girl had been labelled “obese”. 

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Demi Lovato
C Flanigan via Getty Images

She wrote on her Instagram story at the time: “Why is this fat-shaming bullshit on my feed? So many things wrong with this ad. You can be ‘pretty’ at any weight.

“This is absolutely harmful to anyone who is easily influenced by societal pressures put on us from the diet culture to be constantly losing weight in a world to equate our value with the way we look and especially anyone in recovery from an eating disorder.”

In a statement issued to TMZ, Instagram has now apologised to Demi, while saying the advert in question was approved in error.

“We’re sorry,” they said. “This ad was approved by mistake. We reviewed it again and removed it from future delivery in people’s feeds.”

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Instagram/Demi Lovato

Demi has spoken openly about her own history with eating disorders in the past, which the former Disney star – who has also struggled with depression, self-harm and substance abuse issues – described in her 2017 YouTube documentary ‘Simply Complicated’ as “the biggest challenge in her life”.

In July 2018, Demi was hospitalised for two weeks and entered an in-patient rehab facility after suffering a drug overdose, describing herself at the end of the year as “sober and grateful to be alive”.