When 2006 Miss Universe contestants Miss Lebanon and Miss Israel were photographed together in the middle of the Israel-Hezbollah war, the organization was able to immediately decrease the panic that the image stirred up by simply removing the photo from their press page. However, a similar picture of the current Miss Israel and Miss Lebanon together surfaced on Instagram last week, and the current nature of social media is forcing Miss Universe Organization President Paula M. Shugart to warn contestants that they’re a part of a “whole new ballgame” and need to consider politics when going about their pageant duties.

While the Miss Universe Organization used to be able to quickly avoid controversy by removing scandalous pictures before they spread throughout the internet, social media has allowed for instant sharing of images and an inability to keep people from posting them on a number of platforms. Cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon caused people from both regions to be offended by the seemingly “normalized relations” between representatives of those countries as seen in the Instagram picture, so after the image surfaced, Shugart encouraged Miss Lebanon Saly Greige to issue a statement distancing herself from the photo and her fellow contestant.

Shugart recently told CNN that the Miss Universe contestants get along well behind the scenes, but noted that “they need to be cognizant that they are wearing a sash representing their country.” She stated that she encourages contestants to talk to each other, but since certain countries have inherent hostilities, she does not have the contestants room together.

“Everything is political when it comes to your country’s sovereignty and borders,” said former Miss Lebanon Christina Sawaya, who experienced the impact of politics on pageantry when Lebanon decided to skip the Miss Universe 2002 after Israeli troops swept through a refugee camp in Jenin. “Unfortunately, we live in a world full of atrocities, wars, injustice, and occupation and seen under that perspective, a beauty queen has to understand and respect her country’s laws and political positions.”

The latest Instagram photo scandal is causing pageant observers to note that Miss Universe embodies global politics, so contestants should be careful to model the cultural sensibilities of their nations.

“Politics enters into things like this, unfortunately. It shouldn’t be this way but when conditions are so bad and you have two countries at war with each other, everything becomes political,” said Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab-American Institute in Washington. “That’s what happens with social media; it’s the tendency of a hashtag to be more meaningful than substance of what actually took place.”