Last week, while I was looking into my friend’s Instagram stories, I realized that ads keep popping up for every two stories I swiped into. The first days weren’t that annoying but now I started to feel like Instagram has been advertising more than actually allowing me to see what my friends are up to. Users on Twitter haven’t been pleased about it.

Some users stated that they deleted the app after “feeling like a product that Instagram is selling to companies,” and they are not far from reality. It looks like Instagram is losing its purpose instead of being a fun and free social app. Now, they are shoving ads on your face. I don’t mind seeing ads now and then, but the amount of ads they are doing is ridiculous, plus the products they are showing aren’t even targeted for the right groups. I have seen ads about pregnancy and baby products, and things that I definitely cannot relate to, or maybe the app knows things about me that I don’t.

Instagram has been having lots of issues and reasons to lose relevance. Their Instagram stories is a feature they implemented a while ago since many users were on Snapchat more often than Instagram. They also implemented reels to try to compete with TikTok, but with this latest update, they are just want to give you everything in the same app: shopping, video calling, and now there are ads and “suggested posts” to advertise and hide your actual interest and the account that you decided to follow, friends post and things that are relevant for the user. They could instead develop features filtering or combatting cyberbullying comments. Take down posts that promote misinformation, violence, and pornographic content.

When you see an ad and you click the three dots on the upper-right corner to press that you are not interested, the information they give you isn’t helpful at all. They state that the number of ads you see might not change so basically there’s no way to run away from all the advertisements.

If you are an Apple user with the latest iOS update, the limit ad tracking has been removed but even if you have the option “ask app not to track,” they will still be showing you ads based on data about your activity from partners. They say that data has been “given from their partners” about instagram users in certain uses or apps ––– as well your most recent purchases ––– but Instagram assure their users that they “will never” sell our data. I’m not sure to which degree that’s true.

I constantly worry about my online presence and how much of my information is shared between apps and businesses. They basically know everything about me.

The good news is that you can block certain content to be shown, topics that can trigger many or sensitive talking points such as alcohol, social issues, elections or politics.

Their first update was with the “suggested post” and they did it smoothly. The feed and algorithm were a little messy for a while, but now they are giving the users a ridiculous amount of ads in the stories.

The shift in the last five days has been a drastic one. It’s been downhill for Instagram ever since Facebook bought it because the bots are out of control and they look desperate for money with all the ads they are selling.

Instagram’s “improvements” are more about the business side, but they are not listening to their customers, who in the long term will end up making or breaking their business.

If you want to know more about Instagram ads, how to create one, filter yours or just need additional help? Visit the Meta Business Help Center for more information and support.