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Whos Saving Your IG Images? Yeah You Might Wanna Know   Okay, real chat have you ever posted a flame pic upon Instagram and next just moved on? Like, yeah, the lighting was perfect, your eyeliner actually cooperated that day, maybe your dog photobombed in the cutest way possible and then, gone. directionless to the scroll abyss. But here's the event nobody truly talks about: someones saving your IG images. most likely not for evil, most likely not for good. But its happening.   Weird, right?   Hold up who even saves IG images?   Lets begin here. Instagram has this little bookmark icon. Most folks know just about it. You tap it, and boom saved to your private collection. Nobody gets notified, not even the poster. (Yeah, shady-ish.)   Now, here's where it gets a lil spicy. People keep your photos for all kinds of reasons. Aesthetic inspo. Haircut ideas. Tattoo placement. intervention envy. Digital vision boards. Thirst. (Cmon, we every know that last one's real.)   But also? People save them to repost. Sometimes legit. Sometimes not. And sometimes, ugh for creepier stuff.   So whos actually saving your stuff?   Good question. good question, actually. The honest truth? You probably wont ever really know. Instagram doesnt allow you see whos saving your content. Thats kinda the kicker, huh?   Unless youre processing a business account. Even then you just acquire the number of saves. Not the who.   But let me say you what happened to me.   A few months back, I posted a random photo. Nothing fancy. Just a bookstore shot I was holding a latte and pretending to approach a poetry compilation (I was actually scrolling Twitter, sorry not sorry). Three weeks later, I get a DM from some vintage account using my correct pic. Filters tweaked, crop different. My feet were in someones ad for sustainable socks.   What?   And Im not even mad. all right most likely a little. But mostly? Confused.   So yeah someone saved it. Someone reused it. And now my accidental influencer moment lives in the sock-vertising universe. No credit, obviously.   Wait how attain they even save stuff? Isnt that blocked?   laughs in tech   Yeah, no. IG doesnt exactly create it hard.   Lets rupture it down:         Screenshot? Easy. Everyone knows that one.         Screen recording? Even easier.         Browser extensions? They exist.         Bots? Oh yeah amass armies of them.         Third-party apps? Grossly unregulated and nevertheless thriving.         Theres even a subculture of people who just collective aesthetic IG photos subsequent to digital Pokmon. I met one on Reddit. She has 8,000+ saved IG photos organized by color scheme. For inspiration, she says. Sure, Shannon.   Why should you care?   Maybe you dont. Thats fair. Some folks are like, Once I post, its public. Whatever.   But lets be genuine theres a big difference surrounded by sharing and mammal harvested.   Lets say you declare a selfie in a hotel. Someone saves it. next unusual person geotags that hotel. They reach agreement timestamps. Boom. They know where you were. At 11:42 AM. upon a Wednesday. Alone.   Creepy, right?   This isnt paranoia. This is reality. Especially if youre a woman. Or queer. Or an activist. Or a minor. Or honestly just existing on the internet.   But like, what can I actually get virtually it?   Oof. Okay. So, not a summative lot. Thats the sucky part.   Heres the toolbox (though, dont expect a hammer to repair a break in the foundation):         Switch to private. Duh. But hey, maybe thats not your vibe.         Watermark your photos. Not cute, but effective-ish.         Use Stories more they vanish after 24 hours. Less likely to be harvested.         Limit location tags. Or post them after youve left.         Avoid face-front photos if you're in reality worried.         But honestly, that still doesnt end someone from saving it the second it appears.   Wait, are people SELLING my images?   Short answer: yeah, sometimes.   Long answer: people are weird. There are accounts that grind down images and list them on random growth photo sites. Its a gray area, legally, unless youre a celeb. Even then, good luck lawsuit the algorithmic beast.   Fun fact or maybe horrifying one AI training datasets? Full of images scraped from the internet. Yep, your brunch pic might be portion of a facial answer system in Denmark right now.   Sorry.   So... should we just delete free instagram viewer private?   Pfft. No, lets not acquire dramatic. Well, conventional maybe sometimes I think just about it. But look, IGs fun. Its community. Its creativity. Its low-key a digital scrapbook. But it is worth thinking about: Whos saving your IG images?   And most likely more importantly: why?   What if we made a little shift? Just started asking that question before we hit post. Not to end sharing heck no. But to own it. Own your narrative, your visuals, your space.   I dont know, man. Theres something just about knowing youre physical seen but as a consequence possibly collected. Its a vibe. Not a fine one.   New concept alert: Passive digital identity theft   Yup. I made that term up. But it fits.   Not full-on identity theft. Not like, they took my social security number. No, this is sneakier. Subtler. They understand your vibe. Your face. Your brand. Your look.   They mold it into something else. gone Instagram cosplay.   Sometimes its flattering. extra times? Its considering someone wearing your skin, Buffalo version style. (Too dark? Maybe. But accurate.)   TL;DR but as well as not really   If you skipped the length of here hoping for a clean answer, welp sorry again. There isnt one. Because whos saving your IG images? is a messy question. One that sits in the corners of our digital lives.   Its your friends. Your admirers. Your ex. A bot from Belarus. A 17-year-old girl in Missouri making moodboards. A creepy dude who should get banned yesterday. A startup training facial AIs. A acquit yourself modeling agency. A clone account. A marketer. A real fan.   Its everyone.   And unless IG changes the game and starts telling us, well never in reality know.   Last thought. Maybe.   Its usual to be a tiny paranoid. Honestly, it means you're paying attention. Social media is with a party fun until you realize someones filming from the shadows.   So reveal what you want. Just pull off it in imitation of eyes open. most likely discontinue for 5 seconds and ask: Whos gonna save this?   And if that answer weirds you out? Youre not crazy. Youre just aware.   Kinda in the manner of me. yet posting. still side-eyeing.   And still wondering...   Whos saving your IG images?