Instagram will give you more information about accounts with large followings, accept applications for verification, and add support for third-party authenticator apps.
Instagram today announced a trio of updates intended to discourage trolls, stem misinformation, and make the platform a little safer.
For starters, a new feature will give you more information about accounts with large followings, so you can more easily evaluate whether you should trust them. Just go to their Profile, tap the “…” menu button, then select “About this Account.”
You’ll see the date they joined Instagram, the country where the account is located, accounts with shared followers, any username changes they have made in the last year, and any ads they have running. If the account looks sketchy, report it. Facebook tested a similar feature this summer on its Messenger app.
“Our community has told us that it’s important to them to have a deeper understanding of accounts that reach many people on Instagram, particularly when those accounts are sharing information related to current events, political or social causes,” Instagram co-founder and CTO Mike Krieger wrote in a Tuesday blog post .
Instagram plans to roll out this feature “in the coming weeks.”
Meanwhile, taking a cue from Twitter, Instagram will now be accepting applications from users who wish to have their account verified with a blue checkmark badge. To access the verification request form, go to your profile, tap the menu icon, select “Settings” at the bottom, then choose “Request Verification.”
“Once your request has been reviewed, you will receive a notification confirming or declining your request in the notifications tab,” Krieger explained. He warned that “Instagram will never request payment for verification or reach out to ask you to confirm your verification.”
Finally, Instagram is adding support for third-party authenticator apps, which can make it easier to log in when you have two-factor authentication enabled. This security feature will be available to all users “in the coming weeks;” to try it out, go to your profile, tap the menu icon, scroll down and select “Settings,” choose “Two-Factor Authentication,” and select “Authentication App” as your preferred authentication method.
Then, if you already have an authenticator app such as Duo Mobile, Instagram will automatically send a login code to it. From there, enter the code on Instagram, and you should be good to go. If you don’t already have an authenticator app, Instagram will send you to the App Store or Google Play, where you’ll be able to download one.
“Our mission is to bring you closer to the people and things you love,” Krieger wrote. “That closeness can only happen if Instagram is a safe place. Keeping people with bad intentions off our platform is incredibly important to me. 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.”
