An old Instagram hoax is back, and it's duping celebrities - Engadget

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An Instagram hoax that first circulated in 2012 is back, and celebrities from Usher to Waka Flocka Flame, Julianne Moore, Julia Roberts and Rob Lowe have allegedly fallen for it. The post claims Instagram is changing its rules and everything you've ever posted will become public, NBC News reports.

Both Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, and a Facebook spokeswoman said the post is not true. But that message didn't get to US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, who shared the hoax.

If you're seeing a meme claiming Instagram is changing its rules tomorrow, it's not true - learn more here: https://t.co/Qy102zMQCm
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) August 21, 2019

Snopes first wrote about the false claims in 2012, when similar messages showed up on Facebook. As NBC News reports, it may have roots in a rumor that dates back as far as 2007. While there have been more recent pranks, this one is notable given its history. Now would be a good time for Facebook's fact checkers to review Instagram posts.

the guy who handles US nukes got took by an aol-era instagram chainmeme pic.twitter.com/9o4kTvBgNU
— rat king (@MikeIsaac) August 21, 2019

Source: NBC News

In this article: celebrities, Disinformation, facebook, fake, false, gear, hoax, instagram, internet, posts, prank, privacy, public, viral

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