Pink, Todd Chrisley and Jeremy Renner Fall for Bogus Report About 'New Instagram Rule'

Pink, Todd Chrisley and Jeremy Renner were among the stars who fell for an Instagram hoax gaining [...]

By Libby Birk

Pink, Todd Chrisley and Jeremy Renner were among the stars who fell for an Instagram hoax gaining momentum on the social media platform Tuesday. The viral post claims that Instagram is changing its terms of service so users' photos can be used against them in court.

The post, ridden with misspellings, grammatical errors and font changes, went viral after it was posted by celebrities and politicians, including Pink, Chrisley, Renner, Usher, Rob Lowe, Judd Apatow, Zoe Saldana, Julia Roberts, Julianne Moore, Scooter Braun, Sam Smith and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

While most of the celebrities appear to have deleted the post after realizing it is a hoax, Pink wasn't taking any chances. As of Wednesday morning, her post was still live on Instagram, along with her caption: "Better safe than sorry, even if it is a hoax. Sorry for whatever reason anyone would be offended by this. Have a nice day."

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An Instagram spokesperson told MarketWatch that "there's no truth to this post," which appears to be a slightly tweaked version of a similar hoax that has gone viral on Facebook several times.

The post reads, "Don't forget tomorrow starts the new Instagram rule where they can use your photos. Everything you've ever posted becomes public from today." The post also warns users that even messages and photos that have been deleted have become the property of the social media app, and rather vaguely mentions that it's been "discussed on Channel 13 news."

The viral post claims says users can prevent any future changes from applying to them by reposting the image, which it claims legally denies Instagram the right to use their posts or pictures.

While some celebrities were fooled by the hoax, several others had their own fun with it, including John Mayer, who created his own version of the announcement, giving Instagram permission to use all of his content, including his meatloaf recipe, woke magic tricks and "photographs of sinks."

Comedian Trevor Noah also called attention to the hoax with a post of his own, poking fun at the incorrect spelling and grammar in the "warning" and the vague mentions of a Channel 13 news broadcast. "Instagram you are a bad boy, don't use my message for your badness ok!" the post reads in part. "Ok now we are safe my friends," the post ends. "The Instagram demon is dead!"

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