Recently, a message has been widely forwarded on WhatsApp claiming, ‘Important notice for all Instagram users | This message has been sent to all users on behalf of the Instagram authorities. There is a possibility of facing some technical glitches on Instagram in the coming days. For this reason, every user must send this message to at least 20 people before October 30. If you fail to do this, your account may be temporarily disabled and you will not be able to reactivate it. However, if you send this message to 20 people, a new feature will be activated on your account after the next update. Please take quick action before October 30. Thank you for your cooperation, Instagram Team’
Additionally, users on various Indian Facebook accounts have been seen asking whether others have received such a message.
Fact-Check
An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team found that the claim that an Instagram account will be temporarily disabled if this message is not sent to at least 20 people before October 30 is not correct. In reality, the claim has been circulated without any reliable evidence.
A search with relevant keywords found no reliable evidence to support the claim. In fact, if the Instagram authorities had made such an announcement, it would have been widely broadcast in domestic and foreign mainstream media.
Furthermore, an observation of the Newsroom section of Meta’s website and the Announcements section of Instagram’s website blog also found no information to support the claim. The latest post regarding Instagram on Meta’s Newsroom website was seen on October 14. It stated, ‘Today we’re announcing that accounts for teens on Instagram will now follow the PG-13 movie rating guidance by default. This means teen users will see the type of content on Instagram that they would typically see in a PG-13 rated movie. Users under 18 will be automatically placed into the updated 13+ setting, and they will not be able to change this setting without parental or guardian permission…’ (translated)
No mention of the claim in question was found in that announcement.
The investigation found another similar claim circulating in other countries involving the social media platform Snapchat, alleging that a Snapchat account would be suspended if a message was not sent to 20 people within 2 hours. In response to that claim, a fact-check report published on October 21 on the website of the American fact-checking organization ‘Lead Stories’ stated that the claim was fake. Furthermore, similar claims were circulated at various other times, but none were found to be true.
Regarding such messages, an investigation found an article published on Microsoft’s website on August 27, 2023. The article states that such messages are typically called ‘chain letters’. A chain letter is a message that pressures the recipient to send or forward the message to several other people. Chain letters usually specify how many people the message must be sent to. Nowadays, chain letters spread through email, social media, or text messages. Some common types of chain letters include: wealth-related chain letters, joke chain letters, good luck chain letters, and fear or panic-inducing chain letters. The article further advises that if you ever receive a chain letter, ignore it, delete it, or discard it. Ignoring such messages does not cause any harm or penalty, no matter how frightening they sound. In fact, sending such messages can be considered a violation of the law or a crime in some cases.
Therefore, the claim that an Instagram account will be temporarily disabled if the circulated message is not sent to at least 20 people before October 30 is fake and fabricated.
Sources
- Meta – Instagram News
- Instagram – Blog Announcements
- Microsoft – What’s a chain letter? Pass it on!
- Rumor Scanner’s analysis
