Your Insta Feed Just Got Cleaner: How Instagram is Blocking Spam Like Never Before

Instagram has rolled out new updates to combat spam ahead of the holiday season, aiming to reduce the manual effort users put into curating content and minimize the impact of spam on the platform.

The platform has enhanced its automated detection of spam and bot profiles, providing creators with proactive filters to alleviate the need for manual review. The updates include:

• “Potential Spam” Listing: Instagram now filters follow requests from likely spam profiles into a separate “Potential Spam” listing. This also includes existing followers flagged as potential spam or bot accounts.
• Spam Tags: Instagram is tackling spam tags by introducing a bulk review process for suspicious tags, allowing users to remove them more efficiently. Untouched tag requests will be automatically deleted after 30 days.
• Spam Views on Stories: Instagram is experimenting with hiding views on Stories originating from likely spam accounts to reduce their ability to engage directly with your content.

These updates streamline the spam management process, assisting users in refining and filtering their audience, with potential benefits for analytics and engagement.

In addition to these anti-spam measures, Instagram is expanding its Advanced Comment Filtering tools to cover suspected spam replies. The platform is also testing alerts to better inform users of potential content restrictions: “We’re testing in-app nudges to flag posts that may go against our guidelines, providing creators with more information to make informed decisions about keeping or removing content.”

While these updates represent a significant improvement in spam management, it’s acknowledged that spam activity remains a challenge in Meta’s apps. Nevertheless, Instagram is actively working to enhance its systems, aiming to improve audience engagement and the user experience.