File picture: Reuters/Dado Ruvic
Johannesburg - Instagram has introduced authenticity measures - a new feature to help users get reliable content from verified accounts and not bots trying to mislead people.
If Instagram spots any inauthentic behaviour making rounds on the platform, users will be asked to verify their identity, allowing the company to access users who are up to no good and keeping the Instagram community safe.
“By prompting the people behind accounts to confirm their information, we will be able to better understand when accounts are attempting to mislead their followers, hold them accountable, and keep our community safe,” Instagram said in a post.
Instagram said they will be looking at a range of signals to determine if an account holder needs to confirm their information. However, the change will only apply to a small number of people.
This includes accounts potentially engaged in coordinated inauthentic behaviour, or when they see the majority of someone's followers are in a different country to their location, or if they find signs of automation, such as bot accounts for example.
“If we see signs of potential inauthentic activity, we will require the account holder to confirm who they are, and once an account holder verifies their information, their account will function as usual unless we have reason to investigate further.” The post reads.
During this process, the account holder will be required to produce an ID to verify if they are indeed behind the questioned account.
“IDs will be stored securely and deleted within 30 days once our review is completed, and won’t be shared on the person’s profile as pseudonymity is still an important part of Instagram.” The post concludes.
If the users refuse to confirm their information, Instagram may reduce their content distribution or their account may be disabled.
IOL TECH
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