Instagram says viral post about “new privacy rules” is not true

Perhaps you’ve seen a post going around Instagram lately, claiming that the platform will soon be able to use your posts in court cases against you. Perhaps you’ve even shared it, too. Well, Instagram has responded to the viral post and explained that it’s nothing but a hoax.

The post is a screenshot reading that Instagram’s new policy will allow it to use your data in court cases against you, and that “everything you’ve ever posted becomes public from today.” It urges users to repost the screenshot to give a statement that Instagram isn’t allowed to use any of their data.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1Z8l28nzA8/

Despite numerous grammatical errors and terrible typography, the post quickly went viral. It was shared even by celebrities like Adriana Lima, Taraji P. Henson, and Tom Holland, to name just a few. They reposted this terribly written text to millions of their followers because “better safe than sorry.” And this went so far, that Instagram had to respond.

Stephanie Otway, brand communications manager at Instagram, told WWD that the viral post is a hoax. “There’s no truth to this post,” she said. After all, Instagram’s Data Policy details the user info it collects and how it is used.

This isn’t the first time a post like this goes viral on social media. DPReview mentions two cases, one from 2012 and the other from 2015. Personally, I’ve seen posts like this appear every six months or so, but I guess they don’t always go viral like this. Still, I hide all posts from people who share this kind of stuff, so they don’t annoy me with their posts in the future. Better safe than sorry.

[via DPReview]