Instagram spamming: How to take control of your Instagram account?
If you're sick of Instagram spammers & want to stay away from them, this guide is for you. Instagram spamming has been one of the biggest concerns for everyone who uses the platform. That's the problem, we have the solution - this guide.
Instagram has well over 1.4 billion users at the time of writing this post. That's impressive, but what about accounts that are pretending to be someone else or secondary account that people create for whatever reason?
This creates a lot of mess on the platform, which people you and us want to stay away from. If you or young adults in your family use Instagram on a regular basis, then you need to be aware of ways to reduce or completely stay away from spam.
TL;DR & Summary
Instagram has become a marketing platform than what it was before, a platform for artists. A huge population seeks business from the platform. This creates an unimaginable room for spammers.
If you don't use the platform for business, or you're a parent to young adults and don't want to let the spammers do harm to your family, you need to educate yourself. So that you'll know everything about them and hence keep them at bay.
You need to know how to identify spam, what are the types of spam, and how to use privacy tools provided by Instagram to keep the spam in check. Spammers have the potential to commit fraud and that's something you should be aware of.
Table of Contents
What is a spam account on Instagram?
Spam is any unwelcomed user on any platform (Instagram in this case) that bothers you while using the platform. Imagine a sales guy bothering your date.
Spammers on Instagram indulge in spamming genuine users with messages usually to pitch services. Unlike email, Instagram doesn't have a spam folder where such messages will land by default.
The Spammers always find new ways to spam and Instagram is forced to play catch up with them. In some cases, some users unknowingly engage in spamming by including too many hashtags or reaching out to several people. And that's okay, as long as such people are open to feedback and switch the approach to what works.
Related: Insta Stalker Apps - Top 10 Best Instagram Stalker App in 2023
Types of spam on Instagram
There's a thin line between purposefully spamming and honest mistakes. To help you make that visible, here are the types of spam you should be aware of.
#1 Passive Spam
These types of spam accounts are usually for testing or stalking. It usually doesn't have a profile picture, no posts, a cringy bio (or no bio at all), etc. They don't do it on purpose, since they don't care about the account, they don't spend time on making it look good.
#2 Intentional Spam
These types of accounts exist to reach out to mass DMs. People who indulge in such acts have several Instagram spam accounts so that if one gets banned, they can continue their work without hiccups.
Messages from such accounts land in the requests tab of your Instagram direct messages section.
#3 Give & take spam
The most common of all is follow for follow, likes for likes spam. People create accounts and randomly follow & reach out to people and ask if they can follow back. The same goes for liking each other's posts as well.
Such accounts aren't a threat, all they want is followers or likes for their account and content.
Related: How to create a fake Instagram account? [With caution]
How to identify spam on Instagram?
To keep yourself safe from spam Instagram accounts, here are some ways you can determine if any given account is a spam account or not.
#1 Poor profile
Instagram spam accounts usually won't have a profile picture. A fake Instagram account has some sort of profile picture but when it comes to spam, they don't care about the profile picture. Unless their intentions aren't too good and want to appear to be someone else that they're not.
#2 Sales messages
As discussed in the previous section, most spam accounts are created to send spam messages. They're not interested in showing their personal and private thoughts on their profile. They have multiple accounts to spam people and work in hopes that a small percentage would convert.
If you have a private account, you don't have to worry. Only those who you approve of as followers can message you. Be careful with approving the follower's requests though.
#3 Donations
Instagram also become one of those social media platforms that attract a lot of donation seekers. Unsolicited messages from such people aren't pleasing. Most people can't say no & they take advantage of that.
Furthermore, many people also fall prey to fraudsters. They create a fake Instagram account specifically for this and create fake stories around them to loot whoever they can. If you have young adults you can want them about this if they're on the platform.
#4 Explicit material
Nudity is banned on the platform. Instagram is very strict about this. However, direct messages are a freeway for such activities. Some creators send sexually explicit content via DMs to attract followers.
If you look at their profile, there won't be much content but the bio would tell you what to expect from them. You can't keep an eye on what your kids do while on Instagram, but these are the types of accounts you should be aware of.
Check the account owner's followers to see who they follow. If they have multiple accounts, one for following and engaging with such content, you can keep an eye on that as well.
We don't recommend spying on your kids, trust them but have it with a pinch of salt.
#5 Poor engagement
These accounts have very poor engagement. They have fewer followers than following. Such accounts follow random people and once they follow back, they unfollow everyone.
Spammers send several messages every day to attract followers. This is the fastest for gaining followers. Also, they don't operate as a public account so any random person can't see the content without following them.
How to stop spam messages on Instagram?
Teens create multiple accounts, one for sharing personal and private thoughts (with the inner circle) and one for the main account. If you want to keep them safe, here are some steps you can incorporate to keep your kids safe on the platform.
#1 Message privacy
You can secure your Instagram messages by making some changes to Instagram DM settings. Here's how you can take control of your messages on Instagram:
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Open Instagram & tap on your profile icon
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Tap on the hamburger menu in the top right corner
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Tap "Settings"
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Tap "Privacy"
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Configure message control
Related: How to reply to a message on Instagram - Reply to Insta DMs easily!
#2 Switch to a private account
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Open the Instagram app and tap on your profile picture
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Tap on the hamburger menu in the top right corner
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Tap "Settings"
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Tap "Privacy"
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Toggle "Private account" button
#3 Report and block spam accounts
Whenever you come across a profile that seems like a spam account, go to their profile and tap on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, and then tap "Report..."
Follow the on-screen instructions and select the relevant options to report the account.
Please note that reporting multiple times won't make any difference. Once reported Instagram will take its time to review the profile. This is for the security of all users.
Block spam comments on your Instagram account
You can control the comments on your Instagram profile, especially keep the bot comments away from your videos, images, and inbox. Here's how to control comments for your Instagram account:
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Open the Instagram app and go tap on your profile picture
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Tap on the hamburger menu in the top right-hand corner
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Tap "Settings"
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Tap "Privacy"
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Tap "Comments" & configure the settings as you feel right
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Tap "Hidden words" and configure the settings so that your family stays safe with specific types of content. On this settings page, you can block a specific word or words that you don't want your kids to engage with.
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Tap "Limits" and configure as you feel right
Related: How to Delete a Comment on Instagram - 2023 Updated Guide!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is spamming allowed on Instagram?
Spamming isn't allowed on any social media platforms. It's a bad thing for every website. It only makes it worse. People post fake photos, videos, and fake a conversation with bad intentions to gain more attention from less aware audiences online. This is not what the internet is supposed to be.
Why is Instagram so full of spam?
Instagram is a personal space where people post photos in a private circle (you can share stories with close friends). But bots make their way to Instagram as well. With AI, people can generate photos as well, hence there's even more chance of spamming the website online.
Giant platforms like Facebook & Twitter also face the same problem. The whole point of being on social media platforms is to keep in touch with friends and family while sharing personal stuff online safely.
What happens when you spam Instagram?
Users can report your content or the whole profile if they find your spam account. They can even block a fake account from within the app.
How do I stop Instagram from spamming?
You can report posts that appear as spam. You can even report comments on posts or accounts that spam your feed.
How do you find a spam account on Instagram?
You can't explicitly find it, you can only discover it while browsing the posts on the platform. You can even find comments that seem like spam.
Is spam allowed on Instagram?
No, but it's inevitable. Spam accounts are for genuine reasons where users use one account for personal use as the main account and one for the inner circle.
How do I get more spam followers on Instagram?
Spam followers are of no use. Instagram can ban such spam accounts anytime and you'd lose those followers overnight. Instead, take the organic approach, create what your audience likes to consume and they're more likely to share it with their friends.
Why does Instagram think my account is spam?
You might have breached user guidelines laid by Instagram. You might be owning an Instagram spam account that isn't pleasing for the platform.
How do spam bots work on Instagram?
Spam bots on the platform are designed to perform certain tasks automatically. That is liking posts, adding comments, follow-unfollow Instagram accounts, and sending spam messages in bulk. Many people create a spam account to test tools created for Instagram.