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Instagram Is Cracking Down On Services That Sell Likes, Followers (recode.net)

Posted by BeauHD on from the tisk-tisk dept.

Instagram will be cutting down on the services that let you buy followers or likes. Starting Monday, Instagram says it will no longer allow "inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts that use third-party apps to boost their popularity." That includes buying "Likes" and followers, and paying for other engagement generated by apps that require a user's Instagram login details in order to operate on their behalf. Recode reports: Instagram says it "built machine learning tools" to help detect accounts growing artificially. The move is not retroactive, so Instagram won't be removing "Likes" or followers that accounts have already garnered. It's just going to prevent them in the future. Instagram doesn't list any specific apps or services on its blog post, so it's tough to tell which third-party services will be impacted by this. This kind of activity has been against Instagram's Terms of Service for a while, so it's not entirely clear why Instagram wants to crack down on this now. Here's a logical guess though: Facebook is under more pressure than ever to police the activity on its platforms, given all that has happened with Facebook and Russian election meddling since 2016.

8 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. So you mean you admit your numbers are bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Brave

    1. Re:So you mean you admit your numbers are bullshit by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      No, they explicitly are not retroactive. They're not admitting anything bout the old numbers.

      Which is good, because otherwise they may have to admit some people gamed the system.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
  2. The one thing they almost never mention by TuballoyThunder · · Score: 4, Interesting

    is the false positive or false negative rates for these machine learning algorithms. While many people would argue that the consequence of an error in this case is zero, some Instagram accounts are making serious money (> $10,000 per post) according to a story on Wired (may be paywalled, sorry).

    1. Re:The one thing they almost never mention by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      some Instagram accounts are making serious money (> $10,000 per post) according to a story on Wired (may be paywalled, sorry).

      Even money those accounts are some of the ones most heavily engaged in purchasing likes/followers/etc.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  3. rubbish summary by sad_ · · Score: 2

    "Instagram doesn't list any specific apps or services on its blog post, so it's tough to tell which third-party services will be impacted by this."

    well, those that boost your accounts popularity, i though that was pretty clear.

    "This kind of activity has been against Instagram's Terms of Service for a while, so it's not entirely clear why Instagram wants to crack down on this now."

    because 1. it's against their policy and they now have a system that can enforce it and
    2. fake likes lower the value of your social network.

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
    1. Re:rubbish summary by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      The thing with fame, it is almost a catch 22. You can't get famous unless are are already famous. Internet fame is very fleeting, So you don't have time to work up your Social Media Presence until you are a big famous person, You need a kick start to your career. A few thousand likes to boost up your presence, to be posted on the main pages, means other will see your content, then subscribe and watch you if they like it.

      The biggest thing is the Algorithm, It doesn't seem to be setup for finding new talent and bringing it up, but showing what is already popular.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:rubbish summary by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      I don't think Internet Fame is a Career. But more of a get rich quick scheme. Where the Odds of getting anything meaningful is like winning the lottery.
      If you have marketed your cat as the Grumpy Cat, You probably have gotten a few years of fame, and made a lot of money. However not really enough to sustain yourself for the rest of your life.

      We often confuse talent with low production value. They are a lot of talented actors on the internet, but they have such a low production value, that it distracts from their talents.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  4. Re:How to avoid bots by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Yes it is. Some are pretty good at playing dumb, you can barely tell them from the humans.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.