Tag: Instagram

Top Platforms for Growing Instagram Followers in 2026

Being popular on Instagram in 2026 is not the same as it used to be. The algorithm is getting better, the competition is getting tougher, and people are being more picky about who they follow. Posting regularly and hoping for the best doesn’t usually work anymore, whether you’re a solo creator building a personal brand, an influencer trying to get better partnerships, or a business trying to get more customers. Accounts that are really growing over time are the ones that are working smarter by using dedicated platforms that do more than just queue up content.

The conversation around social media growth tools has matured significantly over the past couple of years. Early tools were clunky and often dangerous – mass-following bots, engagement pods, inflated metrics that disappeared within weeks. Today’s better platforms operate on a completely different premise. They focus on data, micro-targeting, and distribution to ensure you get in front of the right people who will care about your content. This has had a noticeable impact on the way growth is being achieved and, more importantly, sustained.

Why the Platform You Choose Actually Matters

Not every tool promising Instagram growth delivers the same thing. Some are more about analytics and scheduling, helping you better understand what’s working. Others go out of their way to get your profile in front of the right people, via targeting, network distribution, or AI distribution. And the newest generation of platforms is offering both services in a unified process.

The ones to watch are the ones that are clear about how they work, don’t need your Instagram details, and are in line with Instagram’s terms of service. This is not only good for your conscience, but it’s good for your bottom line. Shadowbans and account flags can potentially undo months of hard work, and it can be a lengthy process to recover from them. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

The Platforms Making a Real Difference Right Now

These platforms have different features – some for the target audience, some for analytics, some for making the whole process more strategic. All are a little different – so it’s about where you’re starting and what you want to achieve.

PathSocial

The app uses AI-powered audience targeting to help you reach people who are most likely to be interested in your content – based on niche, hashtags, demographics, and the overlap with your competitors’ accounts. It then promotes your account through influencer accounts, targeted email newsletters, and promotional services, without requiring your Instagram password.

Plans start with basic subscriptions at roughly 1,000 followers per month to deluxe subscriptions of up to 3,500 per month, with higher subscriptions coming bundled with an account manager and enhanced analytics dashboards. These reports on follower engagement, sources, and performance by content type are actually helpful insights for developing strategy, not just growing numbers. The guarantee of growth is also impressive: if you don’t see the growth promised within a set time, you get a refund.

Later

Later has come a long way from its beginnings as a scheduling tool. By 2026, it will support planning and creating visual content, managing link-in-bio features, organising hashtags, and providing analytics that can be used to make decisions. What it does best, though, is helping creators understand the most profitable content – not just the posts people like the most, but the content that draws people to their profiles and converts them into followers. This is a crucial point if you want to understand what’s working versus getting “likes” that aren’t leading to conversions.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is more geared towards brands and marketers than individuals, but its robust capabilities can’t be overlooked. Social listening features give brands the ability to track conversations and discussions relevant to their industry that are trending, which in turn informs better content strategies. The engagement tools unify comments, direct messages, and mentions across multiple accounts, and while the impact of being consistently responsive to your audience may be less now that Instagram’s algorithm favours the most engaging content, it still matters.

Kicksta

Kicksta grows profiles through engagement, rather than distribution. The tool employs AI to interact with people who match your target audience – users following your competitors and people who engage with content in your niche. The theory is that such interaction gets you noticed organically. Instagram growth on Kicksta is slower than with distribution platforms, but it’s likely to lead to better retention rates, and retention is more important in the long run than sheer quantity.

Pairing Platform Support with Your Own Creative Output

There isn’t just one way to grow your Instagram account in 2026; it’s a combination of different strategies. Using a platform to get targeted audiences while also putting money into the quality of your content, how often you post, and real community engagement creates a compounding effect that neither element can achieve on its own. People follow you, and good content keeps them. Most successful accounts find their footing by using growth tools as a supplement to their creative strategy, not as a replacement for it. This is also where the kind of growth that lasts over time starts.

FollowSpy vs IgAnony, Which One Is Better?

Choosing between FollowSpy and IgAnony usually starts with one question and then gets a little wider. A reader may begin by looking for anonymous Instagram Story viewing, then realize that speed, account visibility, content range, and trust signals matter too. That is where these two tools start to separate from each other, even though both present themselves as ways to browse Instagram content without using the main app in the usual way.

IgAnony puts its strongest message up front. It focuses on anonymous browsing, no registration, downloads, free access, and public account viewing without login, while also listing limits around private accounts and deleted Stories. FollowSpy covers anonymous Story viewing too, but its public positioning extends into follower tracking and real time account activity, which gives it a broader role for readers who want more than a quick Story check. What each tool is really built for

A reader looking for more comparisons will notice that FollowSpy is framed as an Instagram activity tool first and a Story viewer second. Its public pages describe anonymous Story viewing with no Instagram account, while the product guide also centers the platform on recent follower tracking in chronological order and visibility into changes that Instagram itself makes harder to read. That combination gives FollowSpy a different identity from a basic browser viewer.

IgAnony feels narrower and more direct. Its main comparison page highlights anonymous browsing, no account requirement, downloads, free access, public account compatibility, and access to Stories, posts, and highlights without logging in. For a reader who wants a simple browser tool and does not need activity tracking, that simplicity can still be a real advantage.

That is the biggest split in this matchup. FollowSpy is closer to a broader Instagram visibility product, while IgAnony is closer to a free anonymous viewer built around public content access. When the decision is framed that way, the better tool depends less on a single feature and more on the type of use case a reader has in mind.

Anonymous Story viewing side by side

On the core Story viewing task, both tools aim at privacy and convenience. FollowSpy presents anonymous viewing of public Stories without Instagram login friction, and the internal product guide describes the Story owner as unable to see the viewer in the list. IgAnony also promises anonymous viewing, no registration, and access through a username search on public accounts.

A quick side by side view makes the overlap easier to read:

  • FollowSpy: anonymous Story viewing, no Instagram account needed for the viewer flow, plus follower and activity tracking on its broader product pages.
  • IgAnony: anonymous Story viewing, free use, no registration, downloads, and support for public accounts only.
  • IgAnony: broader public content browsing for Stories, posts, reels, highlights, and profile viewing appears across its tool set.

Where FollowSpy has the stronger case

FollowSpy starts to look stronger when the reader wants context, not only access. The product guide behind it is built around two recurring needs: viewing Stories anonymously and tracking recent follows in chronological order. That means the platform can fit readers who care about Story privacy and also want a clearer sense of account behavior over time.

The public web presence around FollowSpy also feels more developed in a commercial sense. The site has public contact, privacy, terms, and refund pages, and the refund policy references a 30 day functionality policy. Those details do not prove product quality on their own, though they do help readers who care about support structure before paying for anything.

There is also visible third party review activity. As of April 13, 2026, Reviews.io shows 207 reviews with a 4.84 average score for FollowSpy, and Trustpilot shows 23 reviews with a 4.5 TrustScore. For a reader deciding between a broader platform and a free viewer, that kind of outside review footprint can matter.

A reader leaning toward FollowSpy is usually weighing a few specific benefits:

  • broader use than Stories alone
  • chronological follow visibility as part of the same product
  • public review profiles and clearer policy pages

IgAnony still has a clear lane. It stays appealing for readers who want a free, public account viewer with downloads and no account setup. That makes it easier to recommend for occasional use, though it does not present the same broader tracking angle that FollowSpy brings into the comparison.

Which one makes more sense for different users

The practical answer is fairly simple once the use case is clear. If the reader wants a quick free viewer for public Stories and other public content, IgAnony remains a workable option. If the reader wants a tool that can handle anonymous Story viewing and also support a wider Instagram tracking workflow, FollowSpy makes the stronger case.

A useful decision list looks like this:

  • Choose IgAnony for free public content viewing and simple downloads.
  • Choose FollowSpy for Story privacy plus follower activity visibility.
  • Choose FollowSpy when trust pages and public review profiles matter before committing.

Conclusion

FollowSpy and IgAnony overlap on anonymous Instagram Story viewing, but they do not land in exactly the same category. IgAnony is stronger as a straightforward free browser tool for public content. FollowSpy has the better case for readers who want that same Story privacy and then want more visibility into recent follows and account activity from the same product.

For readers choosing one service before using it, FollowSpy comes out ahead when the goal goes beyond a single anonymous Story view. It offers a wider use case, more product structure around policies and support, and public review signals that give the comparison more substance. IgAnony still works for lighter needs, though FollowSpy looks better suited to people who want a fuller Instagram monitoring setup instead of a one task viewer.

 

Ways to Gain Instagram Followers That Actually Work

Instagram growth often stalls for a simple reason. Many accounts keep posting without learning much from what already happened, so every new Reel, carousel, or caption feels like another guess. That gets frustrating fast, especially when the content looks decent and the numbers still move in short bursts instead of a steady climb.

That is why reliable growth methods tend to look less flashy than people expect. Some teams start using data, testing tools, and structured support to gain instagram followers with a clearer process, and Plixi fits that pattern through AI powered targeting, real time analytics, audience insights, and content optimization features. Those methods work better because they are easier to repeat, measure, and improve over time.

1. Use Insights before changing the content calendar

There are many reasons why Instagram constantly directs users back to their analytics page called Insights. The purpose of the Insight dashboard is to give users insight into their growth, reach, engagement and many other metrics that can explain why one post attracts new audiences while another does not. By reviewing these metrics regularly, a user can easily identify which content types, subjects, and days/times of day generate the most engagement or interest and determine what is worth putting additional effort into.

This is an important concept because poor growth may not be due to lack of effort, but rather due to ineffective use of effort. If a user continually changes all aspects of their posting style every time they post, it will be impossible to determine which of those changes led to the increased or decreased growth. Instead, it’s best to focus on the types of content that have had success before and then create new posts around those metrics as opposed to starting from zero every week.

2. Make content that has a better chance of reaching non followers

Instagram’s ranking system does not treat every surface the same, and that changes how growth should be approached. Feed, Stories, Reels, Explore, and Search each rely on different signals, which means follower growth improves when content is built for discovery rather than only for current followers. Accounts that keep publishing with discovery in mind usually give themselves more chances to be found outside their existing audience.

Test ideas with trial reels instead of pushing every experiment to the main audience

Trial reels are useful because they let creators show a Reel to non followers first and check whether the idea has traction before pushing it harder. Instagram introduced the feature as a way to see what performs best, and creator success stories tied to trial reels describe stronger reach from non followers after more frequent experimentation. That makes testing a practical growth move rather than a risky detour.

Keep original posts near the center of the strategy

Instagram has also said that recommendation eligibility can be affected when accounts repeatedly post copies of original content. That means recycled material and generic repost habits can quietly limit how far an account travels. Growth tends to hold up better when the account keeps its own angle, even if the format itself is familiar.

3. Treat profile text, keywords, and search behavior as part of growth

Search is an underrated part of follower growth because Instagram uses the text people type, along with information from accounts, hashtags, and places, to rank results. A profile that clearly describes what it offers has a better shot at meeting the right search traffic than one filled with vague wording or trendy phrases that say very little. Better search alignment will not fix weak content on its own, though it can help the right people find the account in the first place.

4. Add structured targeting when manual outreach stops scaling

Manual growth works for a while, especially when the niche is small and the creator has time to engage every day. Then the workload expands, the account gets busier, and the same manual routine starts eating hours without producing the same lift. That is usually where structured targeting becomes more useful than trying to do everything by hand.

Plixi is relevant here because its current setup combines AI powered targeting, real time analytics, and audience filters around factors such as location, hashtag, gender, language, age, and similar accounts. For accounts that already know their niche but need a cleaner way to reach it, that kind of structure can reduce random outreach and make growth feel more intentional. It also gives users a way to connect audience targeting with reporting instead of handling those jobs in separate places.

There is a practical reason this helps. Growth gets easier to repeat when the account owner can see where traction is coming from, which content performs best, and whether the audience being reached still matches the account’s goals. Plixi’s analytics pages describe live activity, follower growth, engagement rate, audience reach, top sources, and follower demographics, which gives users more context for adjusting what they publish next.

That does not remove the need for strong content. It does make the process less scattered, and that is often what smaller brands and creators need most once they are past the early stage and trying to keep momentum without losing too much time to repetitive tasks.

5. Build a workflow that can survive an ordinary month

The growth methods that actually work are usually the ones an account can keep doing when energy drops, deadlines pile up, or one post underperforms. Instagram’s creator resources keep emphasizing tools for insights, testing, and faster creation, which suggests that consistency works better when the workflow is manageable instead of overbuilt. A repeatable system tends to outperform a burst of effort followed by silence.

What tends to last longer than a lucky spike

There are so many tricks to mention when trying to gain followers, but gaining followers normally results from many good, timely decisions. Use the analytics to read results, test content across a broader audience, continue reusing original ideas, improve your search results, and add structured targeting after you move away from all manual work. Each of these are absolutely non-secrets, but collectively they have far more predictability than jumping on the latest trend attached to a popular item from the previous week.

The social media accounts that keep growing tend to become more comprehendible from the inside out. They have a good understanding of what they produce, who their audience is, and which signals warrant their attention prior to producing their next round of content. Even though this level of clarity is not as exciting as creating a viral sensation overnight, it will typically provide an account with an even better result than an instantaneous spike; it will give an account an opportunity to continue down that path into the future.

Over two thirds of women led businesses in Ireland using AI

Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming a routine part of how women‑led businesses operate, according to new data from Network Ireland released ahead of its national International Women’s Day event at the Limerick Strand Hotel this Saturday.

The survey of 1,400 members of the country’s largest business networking organisation for women shows that 68% of respondents now use AI in some form, most commonly in marketing, finance or HR. The trend is set to continue, with 72% planning to increase their use of the technology this year, despite two out of three respondents saying they are worried about regulatory or ethical issues linked to AI.

Rising operational pressures are also evident. 76% say costs have increased this year, driven primarily by labour (32%), energy (17%), taxation/compliance (15%), supply‑chain input (13%), insurance (4%) and commercial rates (3%).

Inflation pressures (38%) remain the biggest risk for 2026, followed by a domestic economic slowdown (29%), global instability (21%) and access to finance (5%). Customer demand trends are mixed, with 47% reporting stronger customer demand than in 2025, 31% saying it is unchanged and 22% reporting weaker demand.

LinkedIn and Instagram remain the most important platforms for business growth, with eight in ten business owners posting regularly. The main objectives for social media use are brand awareness (42%), lead generation (30%), community building (14%), direct sales (12%) and recruitment (2%).

Network Ireland’s International Women’s Day event will be headlined by entrepreneur and social innovator Sonya Lennon, who will join speakers from fashion, global sport and enterprise to discuss what it takes to build resilient brands in competitive markets. The programme will also explore the concept of brand wellness, ensuring that as organisations scale, the people behind them remain supported.

The event is supported by AIB, Limerick City and County Council and Enterprise Ireland. Down Syndrome Limerick, the President’s chosen charity partner, will be represented by speaker Annie Conway.

Karen Ronan, Network Ireland President and CEO of Galway Chamber, said the survey findings underline the importance of this year’s International Women’s Day theme.

“Building bridges is about creating access to opportunity, to confidence and to leadership,” she said. “Women are adapting to new technologies and new market realities at pace. Our role is to make sure they have the networks and support to grow with confidence.”

Mayor of Limerick, John Moran, commented, “International Women’s Day urges us to turn celebration into action, ensuring that equality, respect and opportunity are not aspirations, but realities for all. Network Ireland continues to champion women who lead, innovate and uplift others. I particularly want to commend Limerick native Karen Ronan for her work as President of Network Ireland, while wishing Barbara MacCarthy the very best of luck in her term as Limerick branch President throughout 2026.”

Geraldine Casey, Managing Director of Retail Banking at AIB, said, “At AIB, we believe that when women in business thrive, our communities and our economy thrive with them. International Women’s Day is a powerful reminder that progress happens when ambition is supported by access to finance, to networks and to opportunity. AIB plays a vital role in creating those connections, and we look forward to continuing to champion female entrepreneurship, leadership and sustainable growth across Ireland.”

Sarah Walker, Senior Executive, Enterprise Ireland, said, “Enterprise Ireland is focused on increasing the number of women who start, lead and grow businesses, and we are delighted to support Network Ireland in hosting this year’s International Women’s Day event. Through our investments and initiatives, including the Going for Growth, NextWave, WeBuild, WeGrow and WeScale Shared Island programmes, we aim to give women the skills, networks and funding routes they need to scale. When women succeed in business, the benefits are felt across communities and the wider economy.”

Established in 1983, Network Ireland supports more than 1,400 female entrepreneurs, SME owners and senior professionals across sectors ranging from multinational business to non-profits, the arts and the public sector. Visit networkireland.ie for more.

Influencers, retailers and pubs breach consumer laws – CCPC

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has today published details of 18 new enforcement actions taken against traders in Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Mayo and Offaly for breaches of consumer protection legislation.

The measures are the result of inspections and investigations carried out in-store and online by CCPC officers.

Influencers 

  • Conor McGregor was issued a compliance notice for failing to disclose the commercial nature of content posted to his Instagram account @thenotoriousmma (CN)
  • Suzanne Jackson was issued a compliance notice for failing to disclose the commercial nature of content posted to her Instagram account @sosueme_ie (CN)

Retailers

  • Circle K Holding Ltd t/a Circle K, Nassau St, Dublin 2: two fixed payment notices for failing to display product prices (FPN 1, FPN 2)
  • Ard Services Ltd t/a Circle K, Tallaght, Dublin 24: fixed payment notice for failing to display product prices (FPN)
  • The Flannels Group (ROI) Ltd t/a Flannels, St Patrick’s St, Cork: fixed payment notice for failing to display product prices (FPN)
  • Midlands Retail Investments Ltd t/a Leavy’s Centra, Tullamore, Co. Offaly: two fixed payment notices for failing to display product prices (FPN 1, FPN 2)
  • Western Flower Wholesalers Ltd t/a Temptation Jewellers, Claremorris, Co. Mayo: compliance notice for failing to display a notice about hallmarking (CN)
  • Euro General Retail Limited t/a Eurogiant, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal: three fixed payment notices for failing to display unit pricing (FPN 1, FPN 2, FPN 3)
  • The Dublin Mint Office: three compliance notices for

Pubs

  • Perfect Pubs 3 Ltd t/a The Auld Dubliner, Dublin 2: compliance notice for failing to display a price list (CN)
  • The Temple Bar Tavern Ltd t/a Fitzsimons Temple Bar, Dublin 2: compliance notice for failing to display a price list (CN)
  • Widestar Ltd t/a Dakota Bar, Dublin 2: compliance notice for failing to display a price list (CN)

Patrick Kenny, member of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said,

“Whether you’re a retailer, a publican or an influencer, you must comply with consumer law. Our officers carry out hundreds of instore and online inspections, sweeps and investigations every year, assessing thousands of products and transactions to make sure consumer rights are upheld across the economy.

“CCPC teams will be actively monitoring compliance by these traders. Failure to obey a compliance notice is an offence, and we will prosecute those who do not correct their practices.

“We look forward to the introduction of direct fining powers for the CCPC. The ability to issue significant fines is an essential addition to our enforcement toolkit.

“Consumer reports to our helpline and industry intelligence help us to identify patterns of non-compliance, and we’re grateful to everyone who takes the time to share valuable information with us.”

In addition to the enforcements published today, last month saw the CCPC successfully prosecute Brown Thomas Arnotts for breaching sales pricing legislation and car dealer Ionut Nitulescu for misleading a consumer.

Create, Share, and Play in the Meta AI App with Vibes

Meta AI app has launched across Europe, and has now introduced Vibes – a brand-new feed for creating, remixing, and sharing short-form, AI-generated videos.

Vibes puts creative media sharing and AI-powered features at the heart of the Meta AI experience, marking a significant step forward in their mission to empower self-expression and fun for even more people.

Putting media generation at the heart of the experience, you can create your own videos using imaginative prompts, or remix what’s already been shared. There are options to add new visuals, layer in music, or adjust styles to match your individual taste.

This is an inherently social and collaborative creation experience, where you’re encouraged to remix, co-create, and build stories together with friends. Videos and content can be shared and posted directly to the Vibes feed, sent to friends, or cross-posted to Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels.

Key highlights of today’s launch:

  • Vibes Feed: Create, remix, and share short-form, AI-generated videos. Explore a dedicated feed that becomes more personalized to your interests over time.

  • Collaborative Creation: Remix and co-create with friends, share content directly to the Vibes feed, or cross-post to Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels.

  • Powerful AI Tools: Building on Meta AI’s availability across the apps you already know and love: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp – you can now naturally with your Meta AI assistant to generate and animate images, and edit photos with advanced AI-powered tools – all in one place.

Since launching in the US, Vibes has inspired over 20 billion images made with our AI tools, and media generation in the app has jumped more than tenfold and are now excited to bring this creative energy to Europe.

Please find the full blog post here

Appeals Centre Europe’s First Transparency Report Shines Light on Social Media Mistakes

The Appeals Centre’s first Transparency Report (covering November 2024 to August 2025) highlights the urgent need for independent review of social media decisions. The report shows that where platforms make mistakes, people pay the price: from unjust account suspensions cutting people off from family and friends, to vital health information being removed, or hate speech against vulnerable communities being left online.

More than three-quarters of our decisions overturned Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube – either because we disagreed with their decision after reviewing the content, or because the platform did not send us the content and we ruled in the user’s favour. The majority of these decisions promoted freedom of expression by recommending that a user’s content or account be restored. 

Across the EU people are standing up to social media companies by challenging their decisions:

  • We received nearly 10,000 disputes about decisions by Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.
  • These came from every single EU country, covering content in more than 50 languages.
  • Of these, more than 3,300 disputes were within our scope, for which we have already issued 1,500+ decisions, with the rest expected in the coming weeks.
  • Since November we have expanded to account suspensions and new platforms (Instagram, Threads, Pinterest) to allow more people to use our service.
  • We received the most eligible disputes from Poland, followed by France and Italy.
  • We saw an upwards trend in case numbers, with the number of eligible disputes received increasing by more than 500% from December 2024 to August 2025.

Under EU law (the Digital Services Act), social media platforms must engage in good faith with dispute settlement bodies like the Appeals Centre and tell their users about this new option.

  • Today, however, dispute settlement bodies are Europe’s best-kept-secret. Most people don’t know we exist and some platforms seemingly want to keep it that way. This needs to change. Social media platforms should clearly tell their users about this new option on a dedicated help-page and as part of their internal appeals process.
  • More generally, co-operation with platforms has been mixed. Progress with YouTube, in particular, has been very slow. We have received no content from the company, meaning that – by the end of August – we had made decisions on just 29 of the more than 340 eligible YouTube disputes submitted to us. As such, we are concerned that people and organisations using YouTube in the EU are being denied meaningful access to out-of-court dispute settlement.

The CEO of Appeals Centre Europe, Thomas Hughes, said:

“Decisions by social media companies have very real consequences: from denying people a say in important debates, to cutting off a crucial source of income. But – as our Transparency Report shows – they don’t always get it right. If you’re in the EU, you can challenge the platform’s decision free-of-charge to the Appeals Centre and get an expert, impartial review.”

Appeals Centre Europe Starts Reviewing Social Media Account Suspensions

From today, if your account is suspended by Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube – and you are in the EU – you can challenge the decision to Appeals Centre Europe. 

Every day, people find that their social media account has been suspended. So often these  decisions are automated, and users are not told what they have done wrong.  

Being banned from social media affects people’s lives: from losing touch with friends, to  losing precious memories and – in some cases – cutting off a crucial source of income.  

Recently, however, the EU’s Digital Services Act has given people a new right to refer  account suspensions to certified, independent bodies like the Appeals Centre.  

A New Way to Challenge Unfair Account Suspensions 

If you are in the EU and Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube has suspended your  account, you can challenge the decision to the Appeals Centre free-of-charge. If we do not  think you broke the rules, your account may be restored. 

  1. Click on this link and create an account on the Appeals Centre website.  2. Start a new dispute in our online portal.  
  2. Select “The platform suspended an account that I want restored” 4. Provide basic information, like your username and when your account was suspended.  5. Submit your dispute.  
  3. We request the last piece of content you posted which supposedly broke the rules.  7. Our expert team make a decision and send it to you and the platform. 8. While our decisions are non-binding, platforms are required – under EU law – to  engage in good faith with the Appeals Centre. 

In addition to account suspensions, you can also challenge a social media platform’s  decision to remove your content, or their decision to leave harmful content online that you  think should be taken down.  

What’s Next?  

So far this year, we’ve issued our first decisions, appointed new Directors from across the  EU, co-founded a new network of dispute settlement bodies and expanded our scope to  cover Instagram. This summer, we will publish our first transparency report – with new insights into the cases we have received and the decisions we have made. We will also  expand to other social media platforms later this year.  

The CEO of Appeals Centre Europe, Thomas Hughes said: 

“Losing your social media account is more than an inconvenience, it affects people’s lives in  fundamental ways. Yet – for too long – those with suspended accounts have been stuck  between a rock and a hard place. Before now you could either appeal the decision to the  platform – which often sticks with its original decision – or go to court at great expense.  

Today, however, there’s a new option which is independent of platforms and free-of-charge:  Appeals Centre Europe. So, if your account has been unfairly suspended, do something  about it. Submit a dispute to the Appeals Centre and make your voice heard.”  

Facebook and Instagram most identified by public for featuring fraudulent adverts

In advance of International Fraud Awareness Week, research commissioned by Bank of Ireland has shown that 90% of the population believe fraud is a big problem in Irish society, with fake online purchase scams being the most common way for consumers to lose money.

One third of those surveyed said they had been targeted by a fraudulent advert on a social media platform. When these respondents were asked to identify the platform, 65% identified Facebook, 28% identified Instagram, with X at 13%, TikTok at 11%, and Snapchat at 4%.

In addition, almost half (47%) of citizens aged 18+ have seen adverts for investments or crypto currency on a social media platform featuring a well-known personality, politician or musician. The impersonation of well-known people and media organisations is a tactic used regularly in fraudulent ads to trick consumers into fake crypto investments, bond purchases, or savings products.

This can include impersonation of individuals such as President Michael D. Higgins, An Taoiseach Simon Harris, An Tánaiste Micheal Martin, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Denis O’Brien, Dáithí Ó Sé, Brian Dowling and Tommy Tiernan.  Adverts can also include links to fake websites impersonating RTE, the Irish Independent, Forbes, The Irish News, BBC News, the Irish Mirror, and many others.

Nicola Sadlier, Head of Fraud, Bank of Ireland said: “Fraudulent adverts are a blight on social media platforms. These adverts are all about one thing – the theft of money from consumers and businesses by criminals. They cause harm to people, the financial services system, and the economy. 

“Much more needs to be done. One common sense step would be to ensure that online platforms check that adverts are from companies that are regulated to sell financial products and services. The current approach, which is allowing fraudsters run fake ads that impersonate celebrities, politicians, and legitimate media organisations – all with the aim of stealing money – is clearly broken. 

“That’s why Bank of Ireland is calling for legislative change at European Union level so that online platforms will have to verify that advertisers of financial services are regulated to sell those services.”

Findings from the Red C poll among the Irish general public include:

  • Fake advertisements were most commonly seen on Facebook and Instagram followed by Twitter/X (13%), TikTok (11%) and Snapchat (4%).
  • The majority of people (66%) report fraud to their bank, followed by the Gardai (17%)
  • When asked to select all parties they believe responsible for protecting people from fraud in Ireland 66% selected Banks and Financial Services companies, along with the Gardai (51%), mobile phone (39%) and social media companies (39%).  60% of the population believe they themselves have a role.

The research was conducted as part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness among Bank of Ireland customers and the general public around the danger of fraud to their personal finances and how to safeguard against the main causes of fraud. International Fraud Awareness Week runs from Monday 18 November, with a series of communications planned by Bank of Ireland to further raise awareness among the general public around fraud protection.