Introducing New Authenticity Measures on Instagram

We want the content you see on Instagram to be authentic and to come from real people, not bots or others trying to mislead you. Starting today, we will begin asking people to confirm who’s behind an account when we see a pattern of potential inauthentic behavior. 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.

We will look at a range of signals to determine if an account holder needs to confirm their information. We want to be clear that this change will apply only to a small number of our community. Most people will not be affected. This includes accounts potentially engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior, or when we see the majority of someone’s followers are in a different country to their location, or if we 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. 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.

If an account chooses not to confirm their information, their content may receive reduced distribution, or the account may be disabled. Visit the Help Center for more information on the identity verification process, and the types of IDs we accept.