The developer, Instagram, Inc., indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below.

App Functionality

In May 2017, a survey conducted by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for Public Health, featuring 1,479 people aged 14–24 and asking them to rate social media platforms depending on anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying and body image, concluded that Instagram was the « worst for young mental health ». On March 11, 2022, Russia announced it would ban Instagram due to alleged « calls for violence against Russian troops » on the platform during the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Instagram was one of the last freely available global social media sites in Iran.
The app received around 25,000 registrations that day, though it remained a public beta. The Burbn Beta app was made available for iOS on October 6, 2010, by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger — still as a prototype, but for the first time available as a real app on the App Store rather than a web-based prototype. A Meta-operated image-centric social media platform, it is available on iOS, Android, Windows 10, and the web. Privacy practices may vary based, for example, on the features you use or your age.

Propaganda usage

This feature allows users to share updates as short text posts of up to 60 characters with certain people, who can then reply to them using messaging on Instagram. During Facebook F8, it was announced that Instagram would, beginning in Canada, pilot the removal of publicly displayed « like » counts for content posted by other users. Realizing that it was too similar to Foursquare, they refocused their app on photo-sharing, which had become a popular feature among its users.

• From June 2012 to June 2013, Instagram approximately doubled their number of users.
• In November 2012, Instagram launched website profiles, allowing anyone to see user feeds from a web browser with limited functionality, as well as a selection of badges, and web widget buttons to link to profiles.
• Meta issued a public apology, stating that a technical error led to the unintended recommendation of such content.
• Create images, posters, banners, videos, surveys and more with easy-to-use templates.
• After a period of testing, a duration of up to three minutes was announced in January 2025.
• Recently Instagram has come up with an option for users to apply for a verified account badge; however, this does not guarantee every user who applies will get the verified blue tick.
• In June 2014, Instagram announced the rollout of ads in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, with ads starting to roll out that autumn.

Users can connect their Instagram account to other social networking sites, enabling them to share uploaded photos to those sites. This change became permanent and system wide a year later, and now hashtags can only be used to see a selection of curated content from « top » users. The same month, they also began testing the removal of ability to share feed posts to stories. After scrolling through posts from the past 48 hours, Instagram displays posts related to their interests from accounts they do not follow. Since its launch, only approximately 220,000 users globally downloaded the app, which represented less than 0.1% of Instagram’s monthly active users, indicating a lack of success in driving adoption. However, Instagram discontinued this version of Threads in December 2021, mainly due to most of its features being rolled out on Instagram itself, as well as low usage compared to other social media applications.

Features and tools

Create images, posters, banners, videos, surveys and more with easy-to-use templates. The most-liked photo on Instagram is a carousel of photos from footballer Lionel Messi celebrating winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup, The post has over 76 million likes. The photo post had received three likes and countless comments, and in September 2017, the company’s algorithms turned the photo into an advertisement visible to Solon’s sister. The policy change and its backlash caused competing photo services to use the opportunity to « try to lure users away » by promoting their privacy-friendly services, and some services experienced substantial gains in momentum and user growth following the news. Citing misinterpretations about its intention to « communicate that we’d like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram », Systrom also stated that it was « our mistake that this language is confusing » and that « it is not our intention to sell your photos ».

Turn ideas into polished content

• In July 2022, Instagram announced a set of updates which immediately received widespread backlash from its userbase.
• The company launched carousel image ads in October 2015, and video carousel ads in March 2016.
• The photo post had received three likes and countless comments, and in September 2017, the company’s algorithms turned the photo into an advertisement visible to Solon’s sister.
• Instagram has since been accused of extending the practice to censor posts under vague and inconsistent circumstances, particularly in regards to sexually suggestive material.
• Suggested posts received more controversy after Fast Company stated that the feature would be impossible to turn off.
• On September 3, 2025, Instagram launched a native iPadOS app, which before relied on the iOS app and did not utilize the larger screen size of tablets.
• Instagram caused the userbase to fall into outrage with the December 2018 update.

Subsequent episodes in June and August 2024 featured Reneé Rapp, Rachel Sennott, Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla. These changes are ostensibly an attempt to hinder the spread of misinformation, while Instagram has also repeatedly stated that hashtags do not help posts get views. In April 2022, Instagram began testing the removal of the ability to see « recent » posts from various hashtags. In May 2021, Instagram began allowing users in some regions to add pronouns to their profile page. In March 2021, Instagram launched a new feature in which four people can go live at once. In August 2020, Instagram began a pivot to video, introducing a new feature called « Reels ».
In October 2013, Instagram announced that video and image ads would soon appear in feeds for users in the United States, with the first image advertisements displaying on November 1, 2013. In December 2024, Instagram announced that it was trialing a feature designed to help users reconnect with content they may have missed from their mutual followers. A few days later, Instagram announced « Story Search », in which users can search for geographic locations or hashtags and the app displays relevant public Stories content featuring the search term. In January 2017, Instagram launched skippable ads, where five-second photo and 15-second video ads appear in-between different stories.
In May, Instagram updated its mobile website to allow users to upload photos, and to add a « lightweight » version of the Explore tab. At the time of the announcement, it was reported that 80% of Instagram’s 600 million users were located outside the U.S., and while the aforementioned functionality was live at its announcement, Instagram also announced its intention to make more features available offline, and that they were « exploring an iOS version ». Although often admired for its success and influence, Instagram has also been criticized for negatively affecting teens’ mental health, its policy and interface changes, its alleged censorship, and illegal and inappropriate content uploaded by users.
According to Dr. Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist and chief of Stanford University’s dual diagnosis addiction clinic, brief attention-grabbing videos act as powerful stimuli triggering dopamine surges akin to other addictive behaviors. Recent studies highlighted the connection between short-form videos such as Instagram Reels and the brain’s reward system, specifically dopamine release. When children watch short-form videos, they learn to expect continual stimulation and fast-paced changes, which can cause problems when engaging in activities that require greater focus, such as reading.
In July 2021, Instagram temporarily 0xbet censored videos with the phrase « death to Khamenei ». Sometimes the phrase « Chinese Instagram » is used to refer to Xiaohongshu, a competitor social media app which is not to be confused with Instagram. Digital rights groups such as 7amleh and Access Now argue that the removal of Palestinian content reflects broader issues of digital discrimination and have called for greater transparency from social media platforms. Instagram denied intentional censorship and attributed the deletion of Palestinian posts to glitches. On January 2020, after the Assassination of Qasem Soleimani by the United States, Instagram removed posts expressing support for General Soleimani. However, this statement has also been called into question due to other apps with more explicit content allowed on the store, the lack of consequences for men exposing their bodies on Instagram, and for inconsistent treatment of what constitutes inappropriate exposure of the female body.
In June 2018, the daily active story users of Instagram had reached 400 million users, and monthly active users had reached 1 billion active users. Later in May, TechCrunch reported about tests of a Location Stories feature in Instagram Stories, where public Stories content at a certain location are compiled and displayed on a business, landmark or place’s Instagram page. This setting can be changed to allow unlimited messages from other accounts that the user does not follow.

Photographic filters

In January 2011, Instagram introduced hashtags to help users discover both photos and each other. Users can also « archive » their posts in a private storage area, out of visibility for the public and other users. On August 2, 2024, Turkey blocked Instagram after the platform deleted posts from users offering condolences for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

However, new incidents of illegal drug trade have occurred in the aftermath of the 2013 revelation, with Facebook, Inc., Instagram’s parent company, asking users who come across such content to report the material, at which time a « dedicated team » reviews the information. People can’t buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos. We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action. In 2013, the BBC discovered that users, mostly located in the United States, were posting images of drugs they were selling, attaching specific hashtags, and then completing transactions via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
Users can now only receive one direct message from accounts that they do not follow, and must approve the message request before further messages can be sent. In April 2020, Direct became accessible from the Instagram website, allowing users to send direct messages from a web version using WebSocket technology. In May, Instagram made it possible to send website links in messages, and also added support for sending photos in their original portrait or landscape orientation without cropping. Additionally, users can now reply to private messages with text, emoji or by clicking on a heart icon. When users receive a private message from someone they don’t follow, the message is marked as pending and the user must accept to see it. The rapid and easily consumable nature of short-form videos can elicit high levels of dopamine; since dopamine serves as a motivator rather than a direct source of pleasure, individuals are compelled to seek rewarding activities and become addicted to them.