How To Protect Yourself From Anonymous Messages On Instagram And What To Do If You Receive Them

The most popular app at the moment is undoubtedly NGL, but it is not the only one. Some advice for dealing with the risks of anonymity on social networks. Sending anonymous messages on Instagram is one of the new trends. The credit (or rather, the blame) goes to the new applications that exploit social connections to allow you to send a question, text, or image to a contact while hiding behind the protection of anonymity.

The most popular app at the moment is undoubtedly NGL, with its 20 million users all over the world: the acronym for Not Gonna Lie (i.e., “I won’t tell lies” in English) is a straightforward app to use. It stands out for the presence of comment boxes entitled “Ask me an anonymous question” that run on the Stories of influencers and users. Create a link to paste into your story or profile, inviting your followers to send you anonymous messages; then, check the NGL app inbox to scroll through the messages and reply directly on your Instagram profile.

How Anonymous Messages Are Sent And Which Apps Are Used

But NGL isn’t the only method used on Instagram to send anonymous messages. There is also the Sendit app, which allows you to ask questions or carry out anonymous surveys with your friends, or Tellonym, which will enable you to get in touch with your friends and ask them all kinds of questions without them being able to know that it was you who did it.

Just create an account, search for the person you are interested in, and send an anonymous and untraceable chat. Or ThisCrush, which was conceived as an app for the shyest to use to come out and declare their love for the person they are interested in. Finally, there is also the most fraudulent method of all, which also goes against Instagram rules: the creation of a fake account with a fictitious name and photo to communicate with a person in disguise.

What Are The Risks, And How To Protect Yourself

Clearly, the main problem is not the apps themselves but how they are used. The lack of filters due to the absence of recognition leaves the field open for bullying and hate speech, which end up straight in the inboxes of subscribers without any moderation. And if influencers have stronger armor because they live on social media and are continually exposed to hateful messages, younger people who approach these apps for the first time can suffer severe psychological damage.

Yolo and LMK were suspended after being at the center of a lawsuit following the suicide of a teenager who was bullied for months on the platforms, as was Ask. FM: three apps that work in the same way and base their success on sending anonymous messages on Instagram and other social networks. We must balance the desire to send/receive anonymous messages with rigorous content moderation to avoid waves of hatred and insults. To do this, we need more responsibility and transparency from the companies that create these products, as well as from the tech platforms that allow their integration.

What To Do In Case Of Offensive Anonymous Messages

If you receive an insult or offense, the only thing to do is report the content and block the sender. And take advantage of all the defense systems that Instagram makes available to users, especially teenagers. Everyone under 18 already has a more private setting set by default when they sign up to the social network and can limit a person, block them, or impose limits on sending comments or personal messages. But the most potent setting is the ability to filter messages according to your personalized list of words in order to block any insult that manages to exceed even the Instagram community guidelines.

Also Read: A Guide To Understanding How To View Private Instagram Accounts Work