Instagram hoax: celebrities fall for it in droves
After Facebook, hoaxes are now causing havoc on Instagram. And as is the way with these false reports, the stuff is diligently spread. Even from well-known celebrities, including Melanie Winiger and Julia Roberts.
They should all know better. Because hoaxes, i.e. posts with false reports, have been around for ages. They've been around for years, especially on Facebook. But no matter how often hoaxes have been exposed as such, certain users constantly fall for the fakes.
Now also on Instagram. Since Tuesday, celebrities, some with millions of followers, have been sharing an old social media myth.
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry was one of the first to share the fake news:
The post begins with a reminder: "Don't forget that tomorrow starts the new Instagram rule where they can use your photos. Don't forget the deadline is today!!!" That's a bit of a puzzle, because grammatically and otherwise the post is pretty pointless: "Everything you've ever posted will become public from today, even messages that have been deleted or photos that are not allowed." And further: "It costs nothing for a simple copy and paste, better safe than sorry."
Then "Channel 13 News" is cited as the source of the news for the change in terms of service. The dodgy post goes on to say that posting the image removes Instagram's right to share the profile user's content. And that the content of the profile is private and confidential. Some official-sounding legal doctrines such as "UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103" and "the Rome Statute" are also mentioned.
That posting a picture changes anything in the privacy settings is of course a very old and bad joke. You can recognise the many inconsistencies just by looking at the message once.
Despite this, it's still being shared
Although the hoax is so obvious, other celebrities besides Rick Perry shared the picture. These included R&B singer Usher, Melanie Winiger, Pink, Diane Kruger, Adriana Lima, Julia Roberts and Martha Stewart, among others.
Most of the stars have since removed the post.
An Instagram spokesperson said on Tuesday that there was no truth to the article. There was no further comment on the hoax from Instagram. <p
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.