The Hit List - Five Things Instagram Could Do To Help the Metaphysical Community

If you’ve spent any time on Instagram lately, you might have noticed the proliferation of scam accounts popping up in the metaphysical community. May well-known tarot readers, psychics, astrologers, witches, and authors have been inundated with these imposters on the daily. It’s like whack-a-mole over there – one gets removed and another one is up almost immediately. There’s even a Scammer Alert page, which has been helping the tarot community deal with this rampant problem.

Instagram has taken a somewhat lax approach to the issue. Many times, they don’t even bother to remove the scammers because it “doesn’t go against community guidelines.” This means the metaphysical community is in a vulnerable position – and the people who love our work are ripe for getting ripped off. This needs to end.

There are a few things Instagram could do to fix this situation.

1. Start requiring identification for new accounts. This would be a deterrent to anyone trying to create a fake account. I doubt Instagram would ever go this route because they depend on “numbers” – and that means they are more concerned with a massive audience than a safe one.

2. Instead of letting robots determine if these accounts are phony, real people need to be looking at the evidence and removing the fakes immediately. Yes, that would mean investing more money in hiring humans, but it’s obvious the current “automated” system isn’t working.

3. Verification – make it happen for more of us. I’ve applied multiple times and have been turned down every single time. I’m a published author with six books under my belt, have been featured in the media many times, and have a thirty-year business. Why no blue checkmark? Frankly, I have no idea. From what I understand, it all comes down to their algorithms. It is odd when I see people with a few hundred followers verified. This tells me there is something wrong in their system – or prejudice against metaphysical workers. (For the record, I have not been able to get verified on Twitter either – they don’t have a category for authors or mystical types.)

4. Fix the glitches for reporting imposter accounts. When you try to report a fake account, you are required to load your ID via the app or website. No matter how many times I’ve tried, it never works. I have used different browsers, the app – but still it won’t load the picture. This means Instagram gets to ignore my reports for “not providing the proper ID” and allow the scammers to stay. I’ve talked to other folks who have the same problem.

5. Allow geo-blocking. Facebook has this feature and it works. Geo-blocking is the ability to block entire countries from accessing your page. Since most of the scammers seem to be originating from the same places, this would eliminate most of the problems we’re experiencing.

Instagram needs to take this issue seriously and protect its users. Otherwise, it won’t be long before it becomes too unsafe for folks to keep their work up there. If that happens, Instagram will become obsolete for the metaphysical community.

Yes to this!

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