Instagram Looks to Shut Down Third-Party Stalking App 'Like Patrol'

Back in October, Instagram killed its own 'Following' tab.

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By Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: 1 November 2019 13:37 IST
Highlights
  • Patrol allowed users to scrape details from Instagram about others users
  • Instagram has sent a cease and desist order violating its scraping rules
  • It has also forced the publisher to shut down the app

Instagram recently rolled out a 'Restrict' mode globally to let users stop people who bully them

Facebook-owned Instagram is looking to shut down an app called Like Patrol for violating the social networks rules.

The app allowed those who downloaded it to scrape information from Instagram about the activity of other users.

Instagram has sent a cease and desist order for violating its scraping rules, which will hopefully halt Like Patrol's ability to collect data, and force the publisher to shut down the app, CNET reported on Thursday.

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"Scraping violates our policies, and we take action against companies who we find to be engaging in it. Like Patrol was scraping people's data, so we are taking appropriate enforcement action against them," a Facebook spokesperson told CNET.

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Back in October, Instagram killed its own 'Following' tab that allowed people to see what posts and accounts their friends were interacting with.

Recently, Instagram has also rolled out a new mode called "Restrict" globally that will let users stop people who bully them via offensive posts or abusive comments.

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A user can restrict someone by swiping left on a comment, through the Privacy tab in Settings, or directly on the profile of the account you intend to restrict.

 

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Further reading: Facebook, Instagram, Patrol
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