Instagram has launched a crackdown on fake accounts, introducing a new feature showing users information about who is really behind a username.
The Photo-sharing app’ more than 1 billion users will now be able to evaluate the authenticity of accounts, weeks after parent Facebook rolled out similar measures in a bid to weed out fake accounts on its social media platform.
The ‘About This Account’ feature will allow users to see the advertisements an account is running, the country where the account is located, username changes in the past year as well as other details.
Users will be able to see will see the date the account joined Instagram, the country where the account is located, accounts with shared followers, any username changes in the last year and any ads the account is currently running
‘Keeping people with bad intentions off our platform is incredibly important … that means trying to make sure the people you follow and the accounts you interact with are who they say they are, and stopping bad actors before they cause harm,’ Instagram co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Mike Krieger said.
He admitted the firm had not done enough to weed out fake accounts.
‘We know we have more work to do to keep bad actors off Instagram, and we are committed to continuing to build more tools to do just that.’
Krieger said in September, people who have accounts that reach large audiences can review the information about their accounts that will soon be publicly available.
After that, the ‘About This Account’ tool will be available to the global community.
Instagram also said it will allow the use of third-party apps such as DUO Mobile and Google Authenticator for two-factor authentication to help users securely log in to their accounts.
Instagram also said it will allow the use of third-party apps such as DUO Mobile and Google Authenticator for two-factor authentication to help users securely log in to their accounts.
Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security on top of usernames and passwords by prompting users for information they have access to.
Earlier this month, Facebook introduced this feature for users who managed pages with a large U.S. following, seeking to make it harder to administer a page using a fake or compromised account.
These features will be broadly available in the coming weeks, the photo-sharing app said in a blog post.
Starting Tuesday, Instagram will allow accounts with a large reach to request verification through a feature within the app, it said.