We can understand how annoying it is when you suddenly start seeing unwanted content on your favorite social media apps. Sadly, we have seen that happen to a number of Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram users.

But talking about Instagram in general, we have seen people struggle with the platform in many ways (1,2).

Instagram bots tagging users on fake posts

Several Instagram users (1,2,3,4) have now taken to social media platforms to report that they are suddenly getting tagged by bots on random fake posts.

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I’ve been getting an insane amount of spam tags across all my @instagram channels. Isn’t it time we started to only allow people you are following to tag you??! This is madness
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@instagram seriously, when are you going to stop these horrific @SHEIN_Official spam accounts! I must have had 25+ tags and mentions today!!!!!!
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Reports indicate that the majority of users are specifically being targeted by Shien’s fake pages and accounts (1,2,3). As a result, they get bombarded with unwanted tags on random posts.

Though the issue has been troubling a number of users for years now (1,2,3,4), the frequency of such occurrences has seemingly grown recently.

The intensity of the situation is so bad that sometimes different bots would tag people on the same post multiple times. This has increasingly become so frustrating and disappointing.

Instagram-bots-tagging-on-fake-posts
Source (Click/tap to view)

No official word in sight

Affected users have tried reaching out to the Instagram team about the bots tagging them on fake posts, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, you can try banning certain words on Instagram and can also restrict the accounts that tag you. It’s undoubtedly a cumbersome task but it’s worth giving a try.

Hey someone on my ig was venting about this too and then explained that you can go into ig settings and ban certain words. You can also restrict who tags you. The bots are seriously out of control on there.
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We hope that Instagram looks into these reports and solves this issue at the earliest.

We’ll keep tabs on the latest developments and update this article as and when something noteworthy comes up.

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Instagram section so be sure to follow them as well.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Riya Madaan
868 Posts

Weaving a little bit of life into the articles I write. No, not really! That's not really possible for a trash writer like me but I still try. Apart from it, I skate, meditate and medicate. Also keep myself away from troubles as I age.

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