The likes of Pink, Tom Holland and Julia Roberts have all fallen victim to a resurfaced Instagram hoax.
The hoax memo originated in 2012 and claims that the photo-sharing site will soon receive permission to make deleted photos and messages public and use the posts against users in court.
Despite the claims being entirely false, it hasn’t stopped major names sharing the post in a bid to prevent the apparent actions and voice their concerns.
Posting on Instagram as he shared the memo, Usher wrote: “Better safe than sorry.”
Pink, meanwhile, aired a degree of scepticism but still decided to share it.
Beware this Instagram privacy hoax is back at it again. It’s a fake hoax from 2012. (https://t.co/0drCrDUapc)
Just saw @TomHolland1996 among other people post this message pic.twitter.com/ZtEfpKgLhZ— NJ Urbina (@nj_urbina) August 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1164007749442822144
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“Better safe than sorry, even if it is a hoax. Sorry for whatever reason anyone would be offended by this. Have a nice day,” she wrote.
Tom Holland also shared it, after receiving an apparent heads-up from One Direction star Niall Horan.
“I don’t really understand what’s going on here, but everyone seems to be posting this sooo…thanks @niallhoran.”
https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1164013368010838021
And even an Oscar wasn’t enough to stop Julia Roberts from sharing it too.
As part of the hoax, users were reportedly encouraged to post the “opt-out message” to forbid Instagram from “disclosing, copying, distributing, or taking” content posted to their profile.
Speaking to The Verge, Facebook spokesperson Stephanie Otway confirmed: “There’s no truth to this post.”