If you use this popular social network, you've probably received invitations from groups of complete strangers more than once. These groups often give you a bad feeling and contain strange messages. Today we'll explain how you can block any suspicious group you're invited to on Instagram.
Invites to adult groups on Instagram
If you've reached this article, it's because, on more than one occasion, you've received an invitation to a group full of strangers where, in one way or another, something smelled fishy.
These groups usually start (and practically end this way, since it's uncommon for anyone to actually post) with a message from a user who shares a link . Sometimes this message includes emojis or a short text (in English or Spanish). But what you're guaranteed to find is a URL that takes you from Instagram to another site.
Furthermore, if you access the profile of the person sending the message (by clicking on their avatar photo, be very careful with this) you will see a very suspicious feed that does not usually have certain characteristics:
- No photos posted on the account, or several photos (not too many) suggestive of a girl.
- Profile description empty, or full of emoticons or texts that hint at sexual content.
- A web address equal to the one in the message you received.
These types of groups are usually created by bots in a fully automated way and can be intended for 2 different functions:
- Offer paid adult content, which would be legal.
- Infect your smartphone or PC to hack your account or even steal your information.
Without a doubt, if you receive an invitation to these types of groups, our recommendation is that under no circumstances should you click on the link you see in the message or on the administrator's profile. This could cost you dearly, as you've probably heard the story of someone whose Instagram account was hacked and who claims to have done "nothing unusual" with it.
In the end, those users whose objective is to steal your information will try to do it in different ways and we must remain very careful not to "fall" into any of their traps.
We can easily avoid these unwanted invitations thanks to certain tools that Instagram provides. So, whether you want to stop receiving invitations to "normal" groups from strangers or avoid those annoying "sexual content" groups on Instagram, keep reading this article.
How to avoid unknown groups on Instagram
The truth is, this process is much simpler than it might seem, but it does have some limitations. Through this social network, we can block group invitations from users we don't follow . However, if we have that one annoying friend who's always tagging us in everything, we won't be able to deny their group invitation if we're friends on Instagram.
Clarified this, how can we block invitations to groups? Well, it will be as simple as following these steps:
- Enter the Instagram application from your mobile phone.
- Access your profile by clicking on your photo in the lower menu.
- Click on the icon of the three lines in the upper right corner.
- Now click on "Settings".
- Scroll down to the section "Privacy" and press to access the advanced options of your account.
- Click on the "Messages" section, this is where both direct messages and groups are managed.
- Once in these privacy options, go to the groups section where it gives us the option of group invitations. Here we must select the option "Only from people you follow".
Once this setting is selected, we will stop receiving those hateful invitations with dubious intentions on our Instagram account. At the moment, as we told you before, it is limited to profiles that we do not follow with our account but, in the future, we hope that this social network will expand the options to all users.
Why can't I turn off group invites?
You might not see the "Messages" menu we mentioned earlier when you access the privacy settings of your Instagram account. This is because it's a feature that Instagram recently added, and therefore not everyone has access to it.
In case you didn't know, news on Instagram doesn't come all at once. For several years now, every time the developers of this service plan to add a new feature, they "pitch" it to a small group of people to analyze how they use it and if they really find it interesting. Once a certain time has passed, and if its tests are satisfactory, this novelty reaches all its users globally. So, if everything works correctly, we hope that the messages menu within the privacy settings will reach everyone soon.