In January 2011, Instagram introduced hashtags to help users discover both photos and each other. Users can also “archive” their posts in a private storage area, out of visibility for the public and other users. On August 2, 2024, Turkey blocked Instagram after the platform deleted posts from users offering condolences for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
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In April 2024, Instagram announced that they would start testing new tools “within weeks” to fight sextortion, a form of blackmail involving intimate pictures sent online. In December 2023, Instagram launched a podcast titled “Close Friends Only” featuring conversations among celebrities. Also in February 2023, Zuckerberg announced that Meta would start selling blue “verified” badges on Instagram and Facebook. In September 2022, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission fined the company $402 million under privacy laws recently adopted by the European Union over how it handled the privacy data of minors. Instagram also announced that adults would not be allowed to message teens who don’t follow them as part of a series of new child safety policies. In February 2021, Instagram began testing a new feature called Vertical Stories, said by some sources to be inspired by TikTok.
- Research shows Instagram browsing predicts social comparison, which generates FOMO, which can lead to depression.
- On July 5, 2023, Meta launched Threads, a social network platform connected to Instagram that allows users to make public shortform blog posts comprising text, photos, and videos, as well as to converse with other users and reblog other users’ posts.
- In 2019, Apple pulled an app which let users stalk people on Instagram by scraping accounts and collecting data.
- In a recent survey, half of the applicants admitted to photo editing behavior which has been linked with concerns over body image.
- The app includes some AI features and the ability to post directly to Instagram or Facebook.
- In April 2022, Instagram began testing the removal of the ability to see “recent” posts from various hashtags.
Also in July 2019, Instagram announced that it would implement new features designed to reduce harassment and negative comments on the service. Mosseri stated that this was intended to have users “worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about.” It has been argued that low numbers of likes in relativity to others could contribute to a lower self-esteem in users. To comply with the GDPR regulations regarding data portability, Instagram introduced the ability for users to download an archive of their user data in April 2018.
Negative comments
Meta representatives replied that they were disappointed with the lawsuit and were hoping instead to continue working with other companies from the industry to create new and better standards for applications teens use. The lawsuit claimed that Meta and its Instagram unit repeatedly misled the public about the dangers of its platforms and knowingly induced young children and teenagers into addictive and compulsive social media use. In October, 2023, 42 U.S. states filed a lawsuit against Instagram and parent company Meta, accusing them of contributing to a youth mental health crisis due to the addictive nature of the platforms. In 2021, Instagram announced that like counts would return to be publicly viewable by default. If some of the accounts violate Instagram’s community guidelines, it will take action, which could include banning them.
- In December 2024, Instagram announced that it was trialing a feature designed to help users reconnect with content they may have missed from their mutual followers.
- Instagram offers a number of photographic filters that users can apply to their images.
- The research findings suggested that user motivations and socio-psychological predictors influence people’s usage behaviours with Instagram Reels.
- The Iranian government offered moderators bribes up to $9,000 to delete specific accounts, with Masih Alinejad being targeted in particular.
- The incidents have led to a #FreetheNipple campaign, aimed at challenging Instagram’s removal of photos displaying women’s nipples.
- In September 2024, Meta paid out a $101 million fine for storing up to 600 million passwords of Instagram and Facebook users in plain text.
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On December 20, Instagram announced that the advertising section of the policy would be reverted to its original October 2010 version. The Daily Beast was provided with a sample of the affected accounts and could confirm that, while many of the email addresses could be found with a Google search in public sources, some did not return relevant Google search results and thus were from private sources. Hours after the hack, a searchable database was posted online, charging $10 per search. However, the following month, more details emerged, with a group of hackers selling contact information online, with the affected number of accounts in the “millions” rather than the previously assumed limitation on verified accounts. The company said in a statement that it had “fixed the bug swiftly” and was running an investigation. In June 2017, Instagram announced that it would automatically attempt to filter offensive, harassing, and “spammy” comments by default.
According to Instagram, they pushed forward the launch of Co-Watching in order to meet the demand for virtually connecting with friends and family due to social distancing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On October 1, 2018, it was announced that Adam Mosseri would be the new head of Instagram. On September 24, 2018, Krieger and Systrom announced in a statement they would be stepping down from Instagram. The app remains available on Windows 10 computers and tablets, also updated to a PWA in 2020. On April 30, 2019, the Windows 10 Mobile app was discontinued, though the mobile website remains available as a progressive web application (PWA) with limited functionality.
In October 2013, Instagram announced that video and image ads would soon appear in feeds for users in the United States, with the first image advertisements displaying on November 1, 2013. In December 2024, Instagram announced that it was trialing a feature designed to help users reconnect with content they may have missed from their mutual followers. A few days later, Instagram announced “Story Search”, in which users can search for geographic locations or hashtags and the app displays relevant public Stories content featuring the search term. In January 2017, Instagram launched skippable ads, where five-second photo and 15-second video ads appear in-between different stories.
The move garnered severe criticism from users, prompting Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom to write a blog post one day later, announcing that they would “remove” the offending language from the policy. There was no option for users to opt out of the changed Terms of Service without deleting their accounts before the new policy went into effect on January 16, 2013. The Verge wrote that cybersecurity firm RepKnight had found contact information for multiple actors, musicians, and athletes, and singer Selena Gomez’s account was used by the hackers to post naked photos of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber. Correlations have been made between Instagram content and dissatisfaction with one’s body, as a result of people comparing themselves to other users. One exception was in January 2020, when Instagram and its parent company, Facebook, Inc., removed posts “that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani to comply with US sanctions”. A few days after a fire incident that happened in the Koryo Hotel 0xbet in North Korea on June 11, 2015, authorities blocked Instagram to prevent photos of the incident from being spread.
IGTV allows uploads of up to 10 minutes in length with a file size of up to 650 MB, with verified and popular users allowed to upload videos of up to one hour in length with a file size of up to 5.4 GB. Instagram offers a number of photographic filters that users can apply to their images. Now, users are only able to see a curated selection of “popular” posts using a given hashtag.
In May 2017, a survey conducted by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for Public Health, featuring 1,479 people aged 14–24 and asking them to rate social media platforms depending on anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying and body image, concluded that Instagram was the “worst for young mental health”. On March 11, 2022, Russia announced it would ban Instagram due to alleged “calls for violence against Russian troops” on the platform during the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Instagram was one of the last freely available global social media sites in Iran.
However, new incidents of illegal drug trade have occurred in the aftermath of the 2013 revelation, with Facebook, Inc., Instagram’s parent company, asking users who come across such content to report the material, at which time a “dedicated team” reviews the information. People can’t buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos. We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action. In 2013, the BBC discovered that users, mostly located in the United States, were posting images of drugs they were selling, attaching specific hashtags, and then completing transactions via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
Users can now only receive one direct message from accounts that they do not follow, and must approve the message request before further messages can be sent. In April 2020, Direct became accessible from the Instagram website, allowing users to send direct messages from a web version using WebSocket technology. In May, Instagram made it possible to send website links in messages, and also added support for sending photos in their original portrait or landscape orientation without cropping. Additionally, users can now reply to private messages with text, emoji or by clicking on a heart icon. When users receive a private message from someone they don’t follow, the message is marked as pending and the user must accept to see it. The rapid and easily consumable nature of short-form videos can elicit high levels of dopamine; since dopamine serves as a motivator rather than a direct source of pleasure, individuals are compelled to seek rewarding activities and become addicted to them.
The Android version of Instagram was released in April 2012, followed by a feature-limited desktop interface in November 2012, a Fire OS app in June 2014, an app for Windows 10 in October 2016, and an app for iPadOS in September 2025. This renaming gave an even bigger response, it rapidly gained popularity, reaching 1 million registered users in two months, 10 million in a year, and 1 billion in June 2018. The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. You can find your favorite apps—like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more—under the Apps section in the left navigation of the Microsoft 365 Copilot web app. Microsoft 365 also includes security features and device management tools. AI is built into the Office apps you know and trust.
Users can also view statistics on their videos and see other user’s videos that are trending in the Inspiration tab. The app includes some AI features and the ability to post directly to Instagram or Facebook. The tab was later expanded again in November 2016 after Instagram Live launched to display an algorithmically curated page of the “best” Instagram Live videos currently airing. In June 2012, Instagram introduced “Explore”, a tab inside the app that displays popular photos, photos taken at nearby locations, and search.