Why Is the #CancerFree Hashtag Hidden on Instagram? What You Need to Know to Share Your Joy

Though it might seem natural to want to share the good news on Instagram, there's a hitch. The hashtag #cancerfree has been "hidden," meaning it can't be used to find loads of recent identically-tagged posts.

There's nothing to stop anyone from adding it to a post on the popular social media site, but it won't do much good. The point of hashtags is to be able click on them to find similarly tagged messages. In this case, #cancerfree should have been an easy way for cancer survivors to be able find others and offer a ray of light to patients looking for a successful outcome through the dark days of treatment.

You can add the hashtag, but if you click on #cancerfree you get the following response from Instagram:

"Recent posts for #cancerfree are hidden because some posts may not follow Instagram's Community Guidelines."

Those guidelines, the site explains, include a ban on nude photos, though not in the case of "breast cancer awareness" or post-surgical scars. Other, conceivably older posts with the #cancerfree hashtag are accessible, just not the recent ones.

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No further explanation of exactly which guidelines were violated to merit blacklisting the hashtag are offered. Instagram, through its owner Facebook, didn't respond to a request for comment.

One official in a cancer survivor organization said she doesn't think the hashtag issue will make much of a difference when it comes the search for mutual support online.

Chris Kidwell, director of social media for the Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, said she tends to use hashtags specific to the group and to the disease — not something as general as #cancerfree. That means #ThyCa and #thyroidcancer.

It’s the same for other groups, she said. Breast cancer patients and survivors, for instance, are more likely to use a hashtag like #breastcancer or #pinkribbon.

Besides, added Kidwell, many support groups have members still struggling with cancer. They are far from #cancerfree.

For those who say they now are, the hashtag might be helpful on anniversaries of being declared clear of cancer, but “it’s not like you would use it every day.” She said she isn’t surprised that Instagram would put the kibosh on a particular hashtag.

But word that #cancerfree is now hidden technology analyst caught the attent ion of one technology industry analyst.

"Wow, that is shocking and disappointing to hear about that important hashtag to be banned," said Jeremiah Owyang, the Silicon Valley-based founder of Kaleido Insights & Catalyst Companies.

Owyang added that hashtags that don't violate Instagram's terms of service should be allowed and one way to help ensure they stay within the rules would be to rank images, video and posts to give priority to "verified users," the "people you know and trust."

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There appears to be, however, plenty of other banned hashtags, almost all as equally benign on their face as #cancerfree.

Several sites offer at least partial lists of them. Adina Jipa of the Social Insider blog has had a tally of many since 2018. As of last year, she had identified hidden hashtags as varied as #brain, #elevator, #kissing and #petite.

Yet some far more lurid hashtags, some of them with posts featuring nudity, are not listed as hidden.

For for those who would like to use the #cancerfree hashtag, there are some workarounds. There's no hiding of the hashtag #cancerfreeworld, for instance. Nor is there for #cancerfreefuture or #cancerfreegeneration.

They aren't as popular as #cancerfree, but they'll still draw eyeballs.

 

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