Instagram is Waking Up to the Fact That People Don’t Like Being Tricked by AI Creators

Instagram is introducing an AI-generated profile label for accounts that feature AI-generated people, requiring creators to clearly mark such profiles or face limited reach. The update, announced by Instagram, builds on earlier testing of an AI creator label and responds to user feedback that people dislike being tricked by AI-generated influencers. Instagram's parent company Meta previously removed an AI image generation feature that used public posts after user backlash.

Instagram is Waking Up to the Fact That People Don’t Like Being Tricked by AI Creators AI-generated content creators that masquerade as real humans have soared in recent years and now Instagram is making a move against them. Previously, some of these accounts had an AI creator label attached to them, but from now on they will receive an AI-generated profile to make it clearer that their page features an AI-generated person rather than a human. Furthermore, AI-generated influencer accounts that do not add the AI-generated profile label will have their accounts limited. “This update builds on the learnings of the AI creator label we began testing earlier this year,” Instagram says. “As generative AI becomes a bigger part of how people create, we’ve heard that people don’t like seeing a profile that seems human, only to find out later that the person featured is AI-generated. They want to know when a profile features an AI-generated person.” The AI-generated profile label is only necessary for accounts that feature an AI-generated person. Creators who use AI tools as part of their process, such as to edit photos, generate captions, or create graphics, don’t need to add the label. Instagram warns that profiles that don’t add the label when appropriate may find the account’s reach limited. Users can check Account Status under Settings to see if they’re no longer eligible to appear in recommendations. AI is increasingly becoming a touchy subject and a rare nonpartisan issue: voters of all stripes appear to be largely skeptical of the technology. PetaPixel has reported extensively about how AI images, including AI-generated social media profiles, have undermined people’s trust https://petapixel.com/2026/07/20/scientists-warn-wildlife-photographers-ai-enhanced-bird-photos-could-threaten-research/ in what they’re seeing online. So far, major platforms like Instagram have had, at best, spotty policies https://petapixel.com/2024/05/30/instagrams-made-with-ai-tag-is-inaccurate-misleading-and-needs-to-go/ when it comes to labeling AI content and continue to push misleading and confusing AI videos https://petapixel.com/2026/07/29/instagram-pushes-ai-video-of-film-crew-shooting-miami-disaster-to-700-million-views/ on the app. In July, Instagram tried to introduce a feature that allowed users to generate images using other people’s likeness https://petapixel.com/2026/07/10/meta-removes-ai-image-generation-feature-that-used-public-instagram-posts-following-user-backlash/ from public profiles. The backlash was so strong that Meta, Instagram’s parent company, reversed course, saying that “We’ve heard feedback that people found this confusing, so we’ve removed this feature while we take time to listen to feedback and evaluate the approach.”