Instagram is getting serious about taking down bots, suspicious accounts must submit ID to prove authenticity

Facebook-owned photo sharing app Instagram is getting serious about taking down bots and fake accounts. It plans to do this by asking suspicious account holders to prove their identity. In a new blog post, Instagram said that it will attempt to ascertain who’s really behind an account to weed out bots and misleading users from the platform. However, not all users will be asked to prove their identity as the company said only those accounts which show repeated patterns of inauthentic behaviour will be under the radar. Among the measures to be taken by the company will be asking users to share their identity proof.

Though the company said that the move will be limited to only a small section of users which have repeatedly shown patterns of inauthentic behaviour, it did not give any numbers for the same. Nor did the company tell users from which country or region will be under the scrutiny of the company. The company also said that there are some preliminary red flags which will alert the company about the presence of a suspicious account. Users from a different country with most of their followers from a different country, signs of bot accounts and inauthentic behaviour are some of the redflags zeroed in by the company.