Instagram cracks down on content aggregators

Instagrams new Instants feature combines elements from Snapchat and BeReal

Instagram announced on Wednesday that it’s globally launching “Instants,” a new feature for sharing authentic, disappearing photos after testing it with select users. The feature lets users share disappearing photos with their Close Friends or mutual followers that can be viewed only once and remain available for 24 hours.

The app borrows ideas from social platforms like Snapchat, Locket, and BeReal, as it focuses on authentic and ephemeral content.

Unlike Instagram, which is about curated and polished content, Instants is designed for quick, real-life snapshots. With Instants, you capture a photo with Instagram’s in-app camera and aren’t allowed to edit the image. The format doesn’t allow uploads from your camera, and, although you can add text to your “instants,” you can’t modify them any further. Meta said in a blog post that the idea behind this format is to share authentic moments as they’re happening.

It’s worth noting that Meta is also testing the Instants format as a standalone app in select regions, including Spain and Italy.

You can capture an Instant by tapping the mini photo stack in the bottom right corner of your Instagram inbox. After you share your Instant, recipients can react with emojis, reply, and send an Instant back. Meta notes that recipients can’t screenshot or record Instants that you’ve shared.

Image Credits:Instagram

Instagram stores your shared Instants in a private archive that you can see for up to one year. You can also compile Instants from your archive into a recap and post it to Instagram Stories.

Meta will use AI to analyze height and bone structure to identify if users are underage

Meta will start using AI to scan photos and videos for visual clues to see if a user is under 13 and should be removed from Facebook and Instagram, the company announced on Tuesday. These visual clues include a person’s height or bone structure, it said.

“We want to be clear: this is not facial recognition,” Meta explained in its blog post. “Our AI looks at general themes and visual cues, for example height or bone structure, to estimate someone’s general age; it does not identify the specific person in the image. By combining these visual insights with our analysis of text and interactions, we can significantly increase the number of underage accounts we identify and remove.

The visual analysis system is now operating in select countries, but Meta says it’s working toward a broader rollout.

Meta says this system is part of its efforts to keep kids under 13 off its platforms. These efforts include using AI to analyze entire profiles for contextual clues, such as birthday celebrations or mentions of school grades. The company looks for these signals across different formats, such as posts, comments, bios, captions, and more. Meta plans to expand this technology to more parts of its apps, including Instagram Live and Facebook Groups, in the future.

If Meta determines that a person may be underage, it will deactivate their account, and the user will need to prove their age using the company’s age verification process in order to prevent their account from being deleted.

The announcement comes weeks after a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties for misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and putting children at risk. The company was also ordered to implement fundamental changes to its platforms. Meta has since threatened to shut down its social media services in the state.

It’s worth noting that this case is one of many lawsuits that Meta and other Big Tech companies are facing over child safety.

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Meta also announced on Tuesday that it’s expanding its technology that automatically places teens into stricter “Teen Accounts” on Instagram to 27 countries in the EU and Brazil. These teen accounts place users into a stricter account experience with additional safeguards, such as receiving DMs only from people they follow or are already connected to, hiding harmful comments, and setting accounts to private by default.

Additionally, Meta said it’s expanding the technology to Facebook in the U.S. for the first time, followed by the U.K. and EU in June.

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Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University.

You can contact or verify outreach from Aisha by emailing aisha@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at aisha_malik.01 on Signal.

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Instagram cracks down on content aggregators

Instagram announced on Thursday that accounts that regularly repost content they didn’t create, or primarily share other people’s work as photos and carousels, will no longer be eligible for recommendations across the app.

The Meta-owned platform says the idea behind the change is to ensure creators of original content get the credit and distribution they deserve. It’s worth noting that these protections were already in place for reels, and are now being applied to photos and carousels, which are the posts that feature a collection of images and videos in a swipeable format.

The update targets content aggregators that don’t post original content and instead simply re-upload others’ posts. By limiting the reach of these accounts, Instagram is looking to boost originality on its app while also working to prevent the same posts from being circulated over and over again.

Instagram classifies original content as content someone wholly created or reflects their unique perspective, such as photos or videos they took, or content they designed. Additionally, Instagram sees content that someone materially edited as original content. For instance, using existing third-party content, such as meme templates or popular clips, is fine as long as users edit it by adding a element that enhances the content, the company says.

Image Credits:Instagram /

“For example, an original meme transforms another creator’s photo or video,” Instagram explained in a blog post. “When meme creators add humor, social commentary, cultural references, or a relatable take by incorporating elements such as unique text, creative edits, and voiceover on a photo or video, they’re producing something original. The best meme creators take third-party content and make it unmistakably theirs by layering in a perspective, joke, or context that wasn’t there before. This is the kind of creativity we want to continue rewarding.”

Instagram says low-effort edits, such as adding watermarks or changing the speed of a video, don’t count. Additionally, uploading a screenshot of another person’s post with their username visible for credit doesn’t qualify.

It’s worth noting that this change won’t affect how Instagram shows people content from aggregator accounts they follow. It will instead no longer show this content in recommendations across the app, including users’ feeds and the “Discover” tab.

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You can contact or verify outreach from Aisha by emailing aisha@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at aisha_malik.01 on Signal.

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Instagram cracks down on content aggregators

Instagrams new Instants feature combines elements from Snapchat and BeReal

Instagrams new Instants feature combines elements from Snapchat and BeReal

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Meta will use AI to analyze height and bone structure to identify if users are underage