Instagram puts new limits on undisclosed AI profiles

Instagram announced Monday it is renaming its 'AI creator' label to 'AI-generated profile' and will limit the reach of accounts featuring AI-generated people that are not properly disclosed. The change responds to user concerns about profiles that appear human but are actually AI-generated, and it will not penalize creators who use the label, while those who fail to label could see reduced reach. The announcement follows recent controversies over AI-generated content on the platform, including a Wired investigation into AI influencers promoting a dating app and a New York Times report on AI-generated health personalities.

Instagram announced https://creators.instagram.com/blog/ai-generated-profile-label Monday that it’s changing how it labels AI-generated profiles and will start limiting the reach of accounts that feature AI-generated people without saying so. The platform says it’s renaming its existing “AI creator” label to “AI-generated profile,” which Instagram says should make the disclosure easier to understand. The new label is meant to tell users that the person featured on a profile was generated or substantially created with AI. Under the new policy, creators who don’t properly label an AI-generated profile could see their reach reduced. Creators who use the new label, on the other hand, won’t be penalized simply for having an AI-generated person as their profile subject. The label also isn’t meant for every use of AI. Instagram says people who use AI to edit photos, polish captions, create graphics, or make other creative tweaks don’t need to use the AI-generated profile label. Instagram says the change comes partly in response to users who have stumbled across profiles that looked like they belonged to real people, only to find out later that the person was completely AI-generated. “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,” Instagram wrote. “They want to know when a profile features an AI-generated person.” The timing is notable. Frustration over AI-generated content has been growing as AI influencers become more common across social media platforms. For instance, earlier this year, the gay dating app Goose became the subject of a Wired investigation https://www.wired.com/story/goose-a-new-gay-dating-app-appears-to-be-a-psyop/ after a network of apparently AI-generated male influencers promoted the app on Instagram. Wired found more than two dozen accounts that appeared to feature AI influencers, some of which reportedly reached out to potential users through direct messages to get them to sign up. Health and wellness content is another particularly worrying example. The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/video/technology/100000011001849/ai-influencers-health-supplements-fake-ads.html reported in July it found hundreds of AI-generated doctors, healers, and wellness personalities on social media promoting supplements or making health claims to users. The announcement comes after Instagram faced backlash https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/07/meta-rolls-out-muse-a-new-ai-image-generator/ over an AI tool that allowed users to generate images using other people’s likenesses. Users objected to having their public Instagram content used without an explicit opt-in. Meta then removed https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/10/meta-removes-controversial-ai-feature-on-instagram-after-backlash/ the feature. Last week, Meta reached an $18 billion settlement https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/26/meta-settles-for-18-billion-in-lawsuit-brought-by-29-states-over-social-media-harms-to-children/ with U.S. states over allegations concerning the effects of Facebook and Instagram on children and teenagers. As part of the agreement, Meta will introduce https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/26/meta-agrees-to-sweeping-changes-to-restrict-kids-access-to-its-apps-as-part-of-settlement-with-states/ a default two-hour daily usage limit for teens across Facebook and Instagram, a “Night Mode” block, muted notifications during school hours, and other restrictions.