US gymnast Olivia Dunne risks being kicked off Instagram after she accidentally flashed a nipple – and the social media site is her biggest source of income

American gymnast Olivia Dunne was at risk of being kicked off Instagram after she appeared to accidentally expose herself on the social media site.

The Louisiana State University acrobat, 21, posted a selfie to her Story with the caption “i be missin u nyc” with a tearful laughing emoji — and what appears to be her nipple poking out of her top.

Dunne – also known as Livvy – was sailing close to the wind with the accidentally revealing photo shared with her five million followers, as Meta-owned Instagram has a strict policy on nudity.

The post, first reported by a German news website, has disappeared — and Dunne’s story is now filled with videos and photos from an LSU meeting at the Raising Cane’s River Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

And even though the post has been removed, the site may still take action — and it could spell financial trouble for her, since the platform is her biggest source of income, earning her six-figure sums for sponsored posts.

She may yet draw the ire of Instagram after appearing to post a photo of herself accidentally flashing a nipple on her Instagram Story

Dunne was in New York late last month for a layover after a track meet in Florida and shared photos of herself in front of her billboard in Times Square

Dunne is considered one of America’s highest-paid college athletes, based on her NIL (name, image and likeness) earnings alone.

Last year she became a Sports Illustrated rookie and posed for the legendary swimsuit issue

Dunne returns for the 2024 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue – her second consecutive appearance in the iconic annual edition

She has become a celebrity in her own right after amassing millions of followers on social media (pictured with Mike Tyson at the 2023 ESPY sports awards in Hollywood)

Dunne has continued to post on Instagram after what appeared to be an accidental nipple flash, sharing footage from a track meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

New Jersey-born Dunne had been in New York for a layover while heading home to Louisiana after a track meet in Florida.

Last month, she posted photos of herself on Instagram in front of a giant billboard of herself in the city’s Times Square, joking, “I think I know that girl from somewhere.”

But her accidental nipple flash is less laughable, because Instagram has a famously low tolerance for topless female nudity.

Image published the image under the headline: “Is the gymnastics superstar at risk of removal from Instagram?”

“This action could have unpleasant consequences,” the tabloid warned.

Instagram, which has a minimum age of 13, does not allow nudity of any kind – including nudity that is said to be “artistic or creative in nature.”

Campaigners have called on the platform to relax its policy on female nipples, using the hashtag #freethenipple, without success.

However, the site does make exceptions for photos of breastfeeding, childbirth, “acts of protest” and nudity as depicted in paintings and sculptures.

This policy, especially its stance on breastfeeding, has recently been circumvented by shameless OnlyFans models who post topless videos pretending to breastfeed baby dolls to entice new subscribers to sign up for their paid feeds.

Dunne has previously shared how much she can get paid for sponsored posts on Instagram, revealing her biggest payday was over half a million dollars.

She told the Full Send podcast last July: “I normally never talk about money, but… I would say six figures. I just think it’s crazy.’

Former US national gymnast Dunne began growing her following online after joining TikTok in 2020 to share videos of her gymnastics exercises.

She is now estimated to be worth $3.3 million thanks to her NIL (name, image and likeness) deals with brands like Nautica and American Eagle.

Last year, she became a Sports Illustrated rookie and appeared in the magazine’s iconic swimsuit issue, for which she will return in the 2024 issue.

And she became an internet meme when she met 10-year-old American football player and social media star Madden San Miguel, better known as Baby Gronk.

Content creator Henry De Tolla, known as h00pify online, shared a video of Dunne meeting the promising young player and proclaiming that “Livvy confused him” to convince him to commit to LSU for college.

‘Rizz’ – meaning ‘to charm someone’, from ‘charisma’ – was later named word of the year by Oxford University Press. Dunne acknowledged the news herself and shared an article about it on her Instagram.