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Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

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Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#21

Post by rpgbr »

jonathanbull wrote: post #10
dec0rum wrote: post #2

I thought this had already been happening for quite some time? In my experience, I was no longer able to browse without an account on either my laptop or my mobile device for a few months now

Yep, this happened at least five months ago. https://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2019/10/28/instagram-now-...

That is a different issue. What The Next Web reported is when you scroll down a bit and Instagram shows the login/register form. Now, no matter what photo or video, even if it's the first one, it asks you to login.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#22

Post by onion2k »

ISL wrote: post #11
blakesterz wrote: post #3

I don't have an instagram account and just Googled "most popular instagram accounts" and I was able to look at the top 3. Though I did scroll down far enough to hit a "you need to login to view more" wall. Maybe it's a regional thing? I'm in the US here. And it's Katy Perry, Nike and Miley Cyrus, just in case you were curious. (at least according to the first result from Google)

Just tried with my own Instagram in incognito in desktop. I could scroll the grid for a few wheel-scrolls before being asked to log in. Clicking any image yielded a log-in prompt. This isn't how the open web is supposed to work. (nor is IG's suppression of hyperlinks to a single link within the bio.)

This isn't how the open web is supposed to work. (nor is IG's suppression of hyperlinks to a single link within the bio.)

Instagram is owned by Facebook. No one associated with those organisations is interested in an open web, whether they're shareholders, employees, or users.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#23

Post by sjroot »

fao_ wrote: post #15

Some friends roped me into signing up to Instagram, so I did. I got to the sign in process and "an error occurred". I tried to login and it said "account does not exist", but I tried to re-sign up, and it said "This account already exists". I emailed them for help but they said I had to post a photo of myself holding a pad with my username on it. Which, fair enough, but giving away my face to a faceless corporation i…

Disclaimer: no affiliation with IG

This sounds like a _very_ unusual experience. Clearly millions (billions?) of people create Instagram accounts with no issues. Why not just create a different account?

> If this is how they treat their prospective customers...

You certainly aren't a customer, which might explain the lack of priority. :)

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#24

Post by nashashmi »

fao_ wrote: post #15

Some friends roped me into signing up to Instagram, so I did. I got to the sign in process and "an error occurred". I tried to login and it said "account does not exist", but I tried to re-sign up, and it said "This account already exists". I emailed them for help but they said I had to post a photo of myself holding a pad with my username on it. Which, fair enough, but giving away my face to a faceless corporation i…

You are not a customer. You are a money maker. You are a product.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#25

Post by [deleted] »

sjroot wrote: post #23
fao_ wrote: post #15

Some friends roped me into signing up to Instagram, so I did. I got to the sign in process and "an error occurred". I tried to login and it said "account does not exist", but I tried to re-sign up, and it said "This account already exists". I emailed them for help but they said I had to post a photo of myself holding a pad with my username on it. Which, fair enough, but giving away my face to a faceless corporation i…

Disclaimer: no affiliation with IG This sounds like a _very_ unusual experience. Clearly millions (billions?) of people create Instagram accounts with no issues. Why not just create a different account? > If this is how they treat their prospective customers... You certainly aren't a customer, which might explain the lack of priority. :)

[deleted]

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#27

Post by iamthepieman »

I stopped using Quora when I kept getting interrupted to sign in/up when not logged in. I did the same for Pinterest. I had deleted and wiped my LinkedIn account for a long time but recently re-activated it for a job search. I'll delete it again when I land a job.

Reddit is getting there but not so annoying that I will stop using it. I get the most value out of Reddit but there are so many ways to get information and/or waste time that something else, digital or otherwise, will replace it.

I imagine people like me are a vanishingly small portion of users or potential users or the increased data/tracking from forcing accounts and logins is worth the lost users but it makes me sad.

But then I see counter examples like Youtube. You can browse all day long without logging in, click through to a video without getting prompted to login etc. Is it just different philosophies (hard to imagine given how much Google is reliant on data and ads) or is it different business practices?

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#29

Post by hckr_news »

fao_ wrote: post #15

Some friends roped me into signing up to Instagram, so I did. I got to the sign in process and "an error occurred". I tried to login and it said "account does not exist", but I tried to re-sign up, and it said "This account already exists". I emailed them for help but they said I had to post a photo of myself holding a pad with my username on it. Which, fair enough, but giving away my face to a faceless corporation i…

I think Facebook was asking you take a picture of your state issued ID at one point to prove you are you, if you had run into account issues. I’m not sure if they do that anymore.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#30

Post by mtlynch »

fao_ wrote: post #15

Some friends roped me into signing up to Instagram, so I did. I got to the sign in process and "an error occurred". I tried to login and it said "account does not exist", but I tried to re-sign up, and it said "This account already exists". I emailed them for help but they said I had to post a photo of myself holding a pad with my username on it. Which, fair enough, but giving away my face to a faceless corporation i…

This happened to me too. I suspect the reason is that I used the email address instagram.[a few random letters]@mydomain.com. I'm guessing it triggered their bot detection.
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