Instagram Shuts Down Prominent Bot Service

Instagram Shuts Down Prominent Bot Service

Score one for authentic interaction. Today, Instagress, a prominent Instagram bot service, shut their doors after being "requested" to do so by Instagram.

It's no secret that bots have become a real issue on Instagram. If you spend any time on the platform, you've undoubtedly received one of those generic comments and/or follow/unfollows. I find it frustrating because it diminishes the authenticity of the platform, thereby delegitimizing those who have actually built up a following organically. Instagress was one such service, but as of today, visitors to the site will be greeted with a page that indicates it has been shut down by request from Instagram along with an offer to subscribers to request a refund. On one hand, it's a big step forward toward returning Instagram to a service based on real interactions, particularly as Instagress was one of the largest bot services. On the other hand, there are numerous such services out there, and it remains to be seen if this is part of a larger effort by Instagram to clear the platform of such services. Such an effort to combat bots and fake followers would present a major shift in many users' experience with the app. 

[via The Verge]

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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16 Comments

Thank God finally bots are getting real attentions. It's a total annoyance!

It's amazing to me how many people want to be a part of instagram when instagram doesn't want them. No baked-in desktop upload means they only want mobile phone photographers. So why do people try so hard to be where they aren't wanted?
I already think of instagram as a narcissist's wet dream. Going out of your way to be a part of it (by uploading non-mobile photographs) just means you're even worse than the average narcissist.
I acknowledge my ramblings won't change anything so I suppose people will keep hash tagging their way towards faux self-confidence. Enjoy desperation, folks!

logic took the day off

Marketing, that's why :) Instagram has some real challenges for businesses and organizations, but provides many real opportunities as well.

And you're saying this on a photography website, of all places, where almost everyone on here is uploading non-phone photos. At the beginning, Instagram was all about the mobile phone photos, but between allowing uploads from camera roll, and promoting IG for business, that focus has clearly changed.

I think, most of all, Instagram is about brand storytelling...carefully planned yet authentic brand story telling. There are quite a few photographers that are amazing at this right now, but one that always pops into my head on Instagram is Travis Burke.

Yup, I follow him, he's great.

I'm going to get in big trouble for writing this, but I don't take photos with my phone and I don't use the instagram app for uploading. double wahmmy. I truly do not belong.

about time. hate for this to turn into a FLICKR with rando people giving you "stickers of excellence" or whatever

I'm going to stick my head out there, and say that I use automated software to conduct a number of tasks for me, in terms of general account management. But the one rule I stick to is that I only ever manually double-tap an image, and I respond to genuine comments, and only make genuine comments. There is always a place for automation/efficiency, but there is no place for spam.

This is nice, but feels like a temporary bandaid until something new pops up. We would benefit most by Instagram actually implementing policies that improve engagement rather than eliminating tools people use to "recover their engagement."

THis is like shutting down a torrent site. hydra head. Many more small sites will spin up, plenty of them already exist. Can even buy your own server script and run it for a one time payment.

Finally bots are getting shut down! Now all we have to worry about is them taking over the world #skynet

Now can we get the regular order back?

Instagram has just become the biggest and meanest sneaky spammer on the planet. Sneaky? Not really. Before I had only friends in my feed, now I am inundated with spam posts coming from people I don't even know, with stuff that I don't want to know about, and I don't get to see my friends posts anymore... It's becoming very evident that Instagram will die a slow death because in the end I will not be staying.And with me a lot of others. Can we not have one friggin platform that has no ads and where we can get our feed back in chronological order? So disgusting. Looking to my Instagram has become a chore over the last days. I REPORT EVERY SINGLE SPONSORED POST AS SPAM... Yes it takes time, but if we all would do that we might be able to change it back to what it was. Hmmm, maybe I am wanting a Unicorn... If the worst comes to the worst, I am willing to pay for an Instagram ad blocker. We should not have to, but that seems to be the way of the world now. Everything "free" has to be ruined... I also will never buy through a sponsored post. I can make my own mind up. Instagram does not have to do it for me...

i use ingramer.com and it has no worth things