Social media platforms' struggle with safety and security is like a game of Whac-A-Mole. One day, the threat is coordinated bot activity; the next, it's SIM hijackers[1] stealing the identities of regular users. In an effort to protect Instagram users from these and other threats, the company announced a set of features today designed make Instagram feel "safer," including ways to protect your own account and to verify whether the accounts you follow are genuine or not.
First, all users will soon be able to use a more robust form of two-factor authentication[2] to log into Instagram. Previously, Instagram offered two-factor authentication with a code sent via SMS—better than nothing, but insufficient to protect all Instagram users from having their accounts compromised. (Users with "valuable" handles[3] may be more vulnerable to scams like SIM hijacking, where hackers access a person's phone number and use it to log into their accounts and steal their usernames.) Now, the platform will allow integration with third-party authenticators, like DUO Mobile[4] and Google Authenticator[5], which supply two-factor codes locally and provide an additional layer of security against account hacking.
To help users differentiate between real and fake accounts, Instagram will now make it easy to look up information about individual accounts—including the date the account was created, its country of origin, and a record of username changes over the past year. You’ll also be able to see any ads the account is running and similar accounts with shared followers. To surface this information, tap the three dots on an Instagram profile page and select the new tab, “About This Account.” The feature will roll out to accounts with large followings, like...