With the most users on any social media platform, Instagram has been keeping a steady upkeep in the business. Instagram has worked very hard to keep and continuously grow their credibility. That is probably why they have not lost many users unlike Facebook due to bad publicity or due to design elements like Snapchat. Therefore, it is hard to imagine there could be a black market on Instagram. Even though news about Instagram’s black market was published well over a year ago, it was just recently that more news broke out about the black market on Instagram. It is catching everyone’s eyes, especially avid users of Instagram, they want to know what exactly the black market on Instagram is.
While Instagram has a clean look from the outside, it can be pretty dirty on the inside. The black market on Instagram can be broken down into two factors. The first factor is where thousands of users buy their verification button on Instagram. Usually, Instagram will verify accounts such as celebrities and influencers with a growing follower base. However, since Instagram decided who gets the blue-checked verification button, it has caused a lot of users to go to a middleman. These middlemen can get paid upward of a thousand dollars. The middlemen do not talk about the process of getting the verification button on accounts, but sometimes it can be a hit or a miss getting it. Users will pay these middlemen in hopes of getting verified but later find out they did not get approved. The second factor inside Instagram’s black market is people buying or selling their Instagram. This does not seem as harmful or look to be breaking any laws but Instagram terms and conditions do not allow users to sell or buy anything that has to deal with an account. Even the username. The next question that comes up is why would anyone sell or buy an Instagram account? The customer who is buying an Instagram account is most likely going to be a company or a person who wants a account that already has a good number of followers. It is less work on them to build followers and easier for them to start creating content that users will see. While, getting blue-checked verification button near an username costs anywhere from a thousand and up, buying or selling an account can cost as low as $30.
One of the biggest attractions of Instagram, compared to other social media accounts is that it lacks scandals. Out of all the social media platforms, Instagram has steered clear from bad news. That is not to say they never had a pitfall moment but compared to Facebook, who recently is in the limelight for the wrong reasons, Instagram does a good job at being the good child of all social media. However, with recent news about the black market on Instagram, the company has new problems it needs to address.
References:
Flynn, Kerry. “Inside the Black Market Where People Pay Thousands of Dollars for Instagram
Verification.” Mashable, Mashable, 1 Sept. 2017,
mashable.com/2017/09/01/instagram-verification-paid-black-market-facebook/#u48Yw5
1ltqqW.
Grillo, Emma. “The Instagram Account Black Market, Explained.” Vox.com, Vox Media, 1 Feb.
2019, www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/1/18204370/instagram-accounts-black-market-….