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Getting Rid of Annoying Ads on Instagram

Getting Rid of Annoying Ads on Instagram

In this article, we’ll run you through the best possible ways of removing ads from the most popular photo-sharing platform — Instagram.

For over a decade, Instagram, from a place where people shared their photography has turned into a massive platform for marketing and advertising. If you are one of those using Insta since its initial launch, you surely do remember that it used to be some sort of a personal photo album you share (or not) with your friends. With its easy-to-use and convenient filters for processing instant shots and nice social network features, Instagram has gained multimillions of users all over the world.

Expectedly, with the growth of the audience and positive feedback from celebrities, became a fruitful destination for brands. Yet, it was okay when advertisements on Instagram were “natural” if I do say so myself. For instance, when those beautiful glittery celebrities promoted certain goods or services via their partnered posts/stories. Yeah, all was fine and dandy until it wasn’t.

Today, Instagram has more than a couple of promoted posts here and there. If you use the app on a daily basis, you 100% know that there are dozens of commercials — in the stories feed, in the “explore” feed, etc. And if some of the ads are even neat, others are atrocities. Crypto news/stocks, Herbalife, cars, and literally anything imaginable overflows the content you were going to surf. Frustrating.

So, how can you stop this chaos? We’ll tell you how to remove Instagram ads, buckle up!

How Instagram Ads Work

Instagram advertising works by virtue of tracking and collecting user activity in the application and websites owned/partnered by Facebook (Meta). By using the retargeting service called Facebook Exchange, Meta gives advertisers the possibility to track, store, and analyze your browsing habits online. This results in tons of “relevant” ads which in its turn leads to ad fatigue. When users get over-exposed to brands, they either completely ignore (block) brands or even abandon Instagram.

How Instagram Ads Look

As was already mentioned, Instagram commercials roll into “Stories” and “Explore”. The distinguishing attribute of a promoted post is the label “Sponsored” under the brand name and the action button at the bottom of the post. Action buttons vary according to the goal of the promotion — “Install Now”, “View Shop/Profile”, “Shop Now”, etc.

The type of ad also varies according to the place it appears. There are ads in form of images, videos, carpet galleries, stories, and reels.

We should also mention another type of adverts, which is done through the “Direct”. This one involves mass sending templates right to users’ direct messages (messaging requests). Usually, these templates are of poor quality and have random topics. For instance,  “Hey, we were destined to meet, no doubt. I’m looking for cool people to promote the jewelry of @superduperbrand, you can do it with a bang, right? In gratitude, we’ll give you a Ferrari Enzo and a Villa in Monaco… yadda yadda yadda”. Lame.

If you’re an active Instagram surfer, then it’s likely you’ve come across all up-to-date ads there. Yeah, got pissed off by them also.

How to Block Instagram Ads on Android and iPhone

At the moment, there’s no software capable of removing sponsored content from the Instagram app. This is due to the fact that Meta has made its app code inaccessible to ad blockers. So what should you do to block the most annoying commercials from your Instagram?

  • First of all, spot the ads. Got it?
  • Tap the ellipsis at the top right corner of the post and select the “Hide ad” option;
  • Choose why you dislike this particular commercial.

This would help you remove this current ad but won't save you from a similar one popping out of the blue several days later.

You may also report ads as a way of cleaning your Instagram feed:

  • Yet again spot the ad;
  • Tap the ellipsis at the top right corner;
  • Tap “Report ad”;
  • Choose the reason for reporting it.

The ad may get back if Meta decides it doesn’t violate any policies and it’s fine. “You don’t like crypto ads? We do, haha!”.

Block Brand Accounts

Next-level Instagram ad blocking tech here, yall. In case there’s a specific brand you hate the most for the number of commercials it forces to your feed, the best solution here is to block its account.

  • Tap the profile (brand) name/photo of the account to view its profile;
  • Tap the ellipsis at the top right corner;
  • Choose the “Block” option there.

Then we’d suggest choosing the “Block the current profile and all profiles this user creates” option. Just because brands have backup accs that would come and quack you up for blocking the main one.

Disabling Personalized Ads

Have you just searched for Nike Air sneakers? Nice! Facebook and Instagram are ready to bombard you with shops offering them. Dog whistles? They’ve got hundreds of them! Rice cookers? Here are the best on the market!

Opting out of personalized ads based on your search requests is a must if you want to save yourself from stress.

  • Go to your Facebook profile page;
  • Go to “Settings”
  • Locate the “Ads” section and tap it;
  • Tap the “Data about your activity” item right below the “Ad preferences”;
  • Switch off toggles.

Use Web Version of Instagram

Agreed, this is not the most convenient way of using Instagram but this works concerning ads. Moreover, ad blockers come in clutch when it comes to browsers (not all ad blockers). Viewing Instagram via a browser helps to consume only the content you want.

  • Open the browser of your choice;
  • Log in to your acc;
  • View the ad-free Insta content.

To admit, this works for PC. I bet you haven’t seen any ads when browsing Instagram on your PC, right?

Conclusion

While there’s no silver bullet solution for mobile applications by Meta, methods from this article can relieve stress. Maybe one day ad blockers would get a chance to access Instagram/Facebook code and remove ads from there but for now — there’s no chance. Report commercials, hide them, block brand accounts, and your Instagram experience will surely get better and more pleasurable.

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