Instagram Is Still A Great Place To Buy Your Drugs
We recently shared with you that Instagram can be quite the repository for illegal drugs. A place to share filtered images of them and a place to buy them. Now Instagram has decided that allowing users the option of common hashtags promoting such services are not cool. They have followed up their September 2013 statement to us with another press statement, this time to the BBC.
“Instagram has a clear set of community guidelines which make it clear what is and isn’t allowed. We encourage people who come across content that makes them uncomfortable to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo or video on Instagram.”
The BBC’s statement:
“We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comments, so we can take action. People can’t buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos.”
Despite the misleading title of the BBC story, “Instagram blocks some drugs advert tags after BBC probe” and the linkbait versions on Fast Company and http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/07/instagram-illegal-drugs-bbc-investigation”>the Guardian
a quick search today showed 44 hits using the hashtag #weed4sale which isn’t exactly pushing drug lingo boundaries and would be an easy ban.
So basically Instagram aren’t stopping people dealing weed. They have said themselves that they will deal with offensive-grams if reported, and that these are still up means people – logically- don’t have a problem with them.