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Instagram has a new feature that’s bad news for creepers — and it’s got people vowing to quit the app
New York Post • • technology
Key Points:
- Instagram has introduced Instagram Plus, a $3.99 monthly subscription offering exclusive features such as extended story visibility, story rewatch counts, and the ability to see who viewed posts, aiming to enhance user expression and connection.
- New features include Story Rewatch Count, Search Viewer Sheet, and Story Preview, which allow users to monitor and manage interactions more closely, though some features enable viewing stories secretly without alerting the creator.
- The subscription has faced significant backlash, with critics arguing it exploits digital addiction, encourages obsessive behavior, and compromises user privacy by tracking viewing habits that were previously private.
- Social media users and influencers have expressed concerns over the mental health impact of these features, suggesting they manipulate users into unhealthy patterns of monitoring and comparison.
- There is apprehension that Instagram Plus represents the start of monetizing user engagement on Meta platforms, with fears that future access to social media may increasingly require paid subscriptions.
