Instagram fact check message requests

I’ve recently made peace with the fact that I will one day die with thousands of unread DMs. Having several large social media accounts is fun, but managing communication quickly becomes… unwieldy. That said, I do venture into my message request tabs on Twitter and Instagram occasionally to see if anything interesting has surfaced (typically, the answer is no).

I get a LOT of spam. Between get-rich-quick schemes, scams, and people trying to help me “grow my following”, it gets overwhelming quickly. My favorite type of spam messages are the ones where people tell me I need help growing my account and then offer “100% real followers” for free.

Nothing in this life is free. Also, if a stranger with 0 followers and 0 posts says you need help building your following, you should probably encourage them to look in the mirror.

With all this context in mind… I wonder what it might look like if Instagram fact-checked message requests. I’d assume this would not significantly impact the volume of people sending spam, but it would be helpful for those of us who aren’t terminally online and might be duped into paying for followers or something worse.

It’s funny, I get more spam on Instagram than I do on Twitter, they just do a better job of burying it behind several taps.

Have a friend who runs an elaborate network of spam accounts on Instgram? Ask them to stop and send them this newsletter.

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