Instagram on Wednesday debunked a widely shared meme claiming the social media platform was poised to allow old messages and private photos be used in court.
“Heads up! If you’re seeing a meme claiming that Instagram is changing its rules tomorrow, it’s not true,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a public Instagram “story.”
Mosseri noted the same thing on Twitter, linking to a story on the fashion news site WWD debunking the rumor.
The meme, which attributes its information to “Channel 13 News” with no further details, claimed “Everything you’ve ever posted becomes public from today. Even messages that have been deleted.”
Sharing the image, the meme claims, serves to “give notice to Instagram [that] it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action” against anyone sharing it.{mosads}
Several celebrities were among those taken in by the hoax, including actors Rob Lowe, Debra Messing and Julia Roberts, as well as director Judd Apatow and U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, who captioned the meme “Feel free to repost!!” but appears to have since deleted the post.
Similar hoaxes have spread about pending privacy policy changes at Facebook, which owns the photo platform. Instagram’s clarification comes less than a week after the platform rolled out a tool allowing users to flag misinformation after reports it played a role in the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation amid an increase in measles.