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How to clear instagram account data


How to Delete/Clear Your Instagram Search History Plus Other Privacy Actions You Can Take

Social media companies regard privacy as an annoyance rather than a human right. Users have to take matters into their own hands if they are to retain some degree of privacy. Even with the inclusion of the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), UK GDPR, UK Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA ACT), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and many others, the user still has to approve, correct, or opt out in writing or online. The options vary based on location, and the US currently has no laws that compare to the GDPR or UK’s DPA ACT.

For residents in the United States, internet privacy control requires more effort than it does for people in EU, including the UK. Regardless, many companies offer privacy control in the US just as they do in the EU, making it easier to manage your privacy information. Deleting/clearing Instagram search history is just one of many steps you have to do yourself.

What is Instagram Search History?

Instagram search history is a collection of all the searches you perform, whether you search for real names, profile names, topics, or specific subjects, such as Star Wars, Nascar, etc. Instagram search history is not available to view by other users, but the company harvests the information to suggest new people/profiles you can follow. The data may also get used for other purposes (unspecified), but you can control what Instagram stores by deleting your search history manually from an android, iOS, or PC browser.

Like many social networks, the more you use Instagram, the more complete their dossier on you becomes, and it’s legal. Perhaps it’s time to take some of that back, which is also legal in the US and EU regions. You can start by deleting your search history, then move on to other Instagram privacy options. Here’s how to do it.

How to Clear Your Instagram Search History

Clearing your Instagram search history is essential if you don’t want the company to use the information to fine-tune your follow suggestions. This is especially needed when you performed numerous searches over time with many entries that create misguided suggestions or lists you have no interest in. Cluttered data can mislead IT bots or technology, which then delivers mistargeted suggestions. Use the steps below to maintain some privacy by removing your search history.

Clear Instagram Search History on Android and iOS Devices

Both Android and iOS have the same process, locations, and appearance for each step, except that some icons are line art on iOS, and Android has a few more options in the menus. However, the extra menu items are not relevant to this procedure. Here’s how to clear Instagram search history on Android and iOS.

  1. Launch Instagram and tap on your profile icon in the bottom right section of the screen. On iOS, the profile icon appears as line art that inverts after selecting it.
  2. Select the hamburger icon (triple lined-icon) in the top-right section.
  3. Choose Your activity from the list of options.
  4. Tap on Recent searches.
  5. In the Recent Searches page, tap on Clear All to bulk-delete all Instagram history or tap on the X next to entries you want deleted.
  6. In the confirmation window that appears, select Clear All.

Your search history is now cleared and nothing appears when you open the search bar unless you only deleted specific searches. Your suggested people is also reset.

How to Delete Your Instagram Search History using a Browser (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc.

)

Deleting Instagram searches using a browser is similar to the processes used for Android/iPhone, but navigation is a little different. Given the slight change to using Instagram on a computer back around April 2022, here is how you can currently clear all Instagram search history using your browser of choice.

  1. Launch Instagram in your browser and click on Explore in the left-side menu.
  2. Now, click on Search at the top.
  3. From here, you can click X to delete them one at a time or click on Clear all in the top right.

Download Your Instagram Profile

As mentioned, the more you use a social network, the more complete a profile they build on you. If you want to know exactly what Instagram knows about you, you can find out. You can request a data dump from Instagram that will be delivered within 48 hours via a .zip file within an email.

  1. Log into Instagram and select your account.
  2. Select the Hamburger menu at the top right of the page to access Options.
  3. Tap on Settings followed by Security.
  4. Under Data and History, select Download Data.
  5. Enter the email address you want your data sent to.
  6. Tap on Request Download at the bottom of the screen and enter your Instagram password when prompted.

Once the email arrive, it will contain a ZIP archive file. You will need to decompress this somewhere on your computer to be able to read it. You can then open it with a text editor to see just how much data the network has compiled about you.

Ways to Be More Private on Instagram

Hide Your Online Status on Instagram

If you want some time to browse without being disturbed or want to keep your Instagram activity under the radar, you can hide your online status. This is essentially an incognito mode for the social network that keeps your presence hidden while you do what you need to do.

  1. Log into Instagram and select your account.
  2. Select the Hamburger menu icon then tap on Settings.
  3. Tap on Privacy and select Activity Status.
  4. Toggle off Show Activity Status.

Now you should not show up as online when you’re using the app. You can turn it back on again when you’re ready by repeating the above and toggling Activity Status back to on again.

Make Your Instagram Account Private

There is a clue in the name social network. They are designed to be social and encourage sharing and interaction. If you want to keep yourself to yourself or want to stop people following you, you can make your Instagram account private. This keeps your posts private and forces users to request to follow you.

  1. Log into Instagram and select your account.
  2. Select the Hamburger menu icon then tap on Settings.
  3. Tap on Privacy.
  4. Select Private Account and toggle it to on.

Stop Specific People from Viewing Your Stories

If you’re having issues with people viewing Stories that you don’t want them seeing, you can filter them out. You don’t have to stop following them or stop them following you, there is a setting within Stories that allows you to filter out certain users. Here’s how to do it.

  1. Log into Instagram and select your account.
  2. Select the Hamburger menu icon then tap on Settings.
  3. Tap Privacy.
  4. Under Interactions, select Story.
  5. Look for Hide Story From and tap on People
  6. Select the person’s account.

From that moment on, the users you add into that final section will not be able to see your Stories.

Stop Individuals from Commenting on Your Posts

You can exercise an element of control over comments too. If you’re suffering from a troll infestation or an individual who says dumb things, you can stop them commenting.

  1. Select your profile from within Instagram.
  2. Select the menu icon then tap on Settings.
  3. Tap on Privacy then select Comments.
  4. Select Block Comments From and select People.
  5. Select the username of the person you want to block and select Block.

Block Users on Instagram

If all else fails and you’re still having issues with individuals on Instagram, you can block them. This is a measure of last resort as it can lead to awkward social interactions with them if you see them in the real world but sometimes there is no other choice.

  1. Select their username from within Instagram.
  2. Select the menu icon to access Settings.
  3. Select Block.

Once blocked, you may have to manually remove any comments they made on your posts but they will no longer be able to comment on future posts.

The vast majority of Instagram users are fine, but every village has its idiot and most of them use Instagram. At least now you know how to handle them!

Instagram and Privacy

Clearing your Instagram search history is an easy process, but keeping your personal data away from unwanted eyes isn’t. Using social media can be a fun way to meet and interact with new and interesting people, but it’s nice to know how to block and limit your online presence to some.

How to download everything Instagram knows about me

  • Instagram lets you download an archive of everything you've posted to the site.
  • You can get a copy of your photos, videos, comments, likes, people you follow, contacts and more.
  • We'll show you how to download that archive in this guide.

Instagram co-founder and CEO, Kevin Systrom.

Vivien Killilea

Facebook's Instagram keeps a copy of everything you've ever shared. It's easy to download an archive of that information, so I'm going to show you how.

There are two primary reasons you might want to do this: first, it's worth seeing what sort of private information is stored on Instagram's severs. Second, it's convenient if you want to take all of your data and move to another service.

Here's what I found

I downloaded my archive and discovered that Instagram has access to all my contacts phone contacts -- including their names, email addresses and full names -- even if they don't use Instagram. It also has a copy of:

  • My profile information.
  • Everything I've searched on Instagram.
  • Everyone I follow.
  • Every post I've ever liked.
  • Direct messages I've sent to other users.
  • Every video I've ever posted.
  • Every photo I've ever posted.
  • Every story I've ever shared (Stories are Instagram's Snapchat-like feature.)

The Instagram archive doesn't include any data about ads you've viewed or interacted with, or what sorts of ad topics it think you might be interested in. Facebook must have this data somewhere, but it isn't included in the file you download.

How to download your data

You can download your own archive and discover what Instagram still knows about you. Here's how:

  • Navigate to Instagram.com and select your profile.
  • Click the gear next to your name and select "Privacy and Security."
  • Scroll down to "Data Download" and click "Request Download."
  • Then enter the email you'd like to receive the download link too and verify the request by entering your Instagram password.

While Instagram says it can take up to 48 hours, I received my download link in under thirty minutes.

The data comes through as a zip file with folders for photos, stories, and videos. Anything that isn't a photo or video -- messages, profile, searches, and settings -- are saved in text format that you can open with notepad on a computer.

How to delete your Instagram data:

If you don't want Instagram to have this data, you can delete it all. (Instagram confirms in its FAQ that it's actually deleted.) Doing so requires you to delete your entire account permanently, however. If you don't want to do that, you can temporarily disable your account, too.

Here's how:

  • Visit Instagram's "delete your account page."
  • Select a reason for why you want to delete your data.
  • Click "Permanently delete my account."

That's it. Now you've learned how to download a copy of all of your Instagram data and, if you want, how to delete it.

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How to delete personal data from social networks (VKontakte, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter)?

Social networks actively collect information about their users and are not at all eager to part with it - even if the account owner makes such a request. We figure out how to delete your data from Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte and Instagram.

  1. Introduction
  2. How to remove information about yourself from Facebook
  3. How to remove information about yourself from Instagram
  4. How to remove information about yourself from Twitter
  5. How to remove information about yourself from VKontakte
  6. Pins

Introduction

Most social networks base their business on displaying advertisements. For their targeting (personalization of the display), a lot of data from the user profile is used, as well as information about actions in the social network, and sometimes beyond it. By creating a profile on Facebook, VKontakte or Twitter, the user accepts the confidentiality agreement, often without even reading it, and also leaves the privacy settings set by default. This leads to the fact that social services accumulate a huge array of data related to a particular person for years.

Of course, Russian legislation establishes certain rules for the processing of personal data of citizens and limits the possibility of their use, however, not all information about your actions in social networks is subject to Law No. 152-FZ and other regulations. In addition, by registering an account, we usually give the service consent to the processing of our data. However, the operator is under no obligation to provide us with tools for self-management of information about itself.

Interestingly, foreign Internet sites are often more client-oriented in terms of personal data management. This is partly due to more stringent legislation (primarily European and American), partly due to more developed traditions regarding the secrecy of correspondence and personal life, a higher culture of handling such information. Nevertheless, for both Russian and foreign social services, the rule is true: it is much easier for them to become a user and a donor of information than to delete this information later.

In order to minimize the amount of data collected about you by the social network, we recommend that you pay attention to your profile privacy settings as soon as possible (ideally, immediately after registration). If you did not immediately limit the "appetites" of the site, try deleting some of the accumulated information. We have prepared short instructions on how to do this on Facebook, Instagram, VKontakte and Twitter.

How to remove information about yourself from Facebook

Facebook collects a lot of data about the activities of its users. Information that allows you to more accurately target (and therefore sell more expensively) ad impressions is the basis of a social network business. Therefore, she knows and remembers a lot about you: what and when you published, whose post was “liked” and what information they were looking for. Moreover, sometimes Facebook shares some of this data with other online resources - as part of partnership agreements and with your consent (remember the boxes that you checked when logging into a third-party service using your account). There is also a reverse scheme - online stores, banks, taxi services and other companies transmit data about your actions to Facebook in order to “catch up” with you with their advertising on the social network.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans don't trust Facebook to store their personal data, according to a study by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal. If you are also uncomfortable with being tracked by a social network, we recommend limiting its activity in relation to your personal data, as well as deleting information that you do not want to share. This is not to say that this is a very simple and convenient process, but there is an opportunity to clean up your personal data box.

First of all, we recommend downloading the archive of information collected by Facebook about you - in order to understand the scale of the problem and just in case. Here's how to do it:

  • Open the Settings & Privacy menu.
  • Select Settings.
  • Go to Your Facebook Information.
  • Click Download Information.

By default, all types of data that Facebook collects about you are selected; if necessary, you can disable the download of individual sections. Select the file format - HTML or JSON - as well as the date range and quality level of downloaded photos and videos (the size of the archive depends on this), then click the "Create file" button. In an hour or two, a link to download the archive will be sent to the email associated with the account.

Let's start deleting information. Unfortunately, Facebook does not allow you to “wholesale” destroy all personal information or individual groups of data, but it is possible to get to each individual record. Open the same "Your information on Facebook" section (see above) and select "View my information".

Figure 1. User information collected by Facebook

This is a comprehensive library of Facebook data related to you: information about all posts, photos, search history and interactions with other users. We recommend that you carefully study each section and delete redundant data about yourself. Here is a list of 5 sections that you should take a closer look at:

  • "Location and geodata log" - the entire history of your movements recorded by Facebook.
  • "Search history" - a list of your search queries, general and specific for video.
  • "Payment history" - all purchases made through Facebook Pay, as well as a list of linked bank cards.
  • “Apps & Sites” means third-party resources that you sign in to using your Facebook account. They may have access to your data on the social network.
  • "Voice recordings and their text versions" - everything you searched for using voice searches, as well as all recordings made when Facebook decided that you want to use voice search. Take a look here, even if you have never used this feature.

Finally, we recommend that you visit the Off-Facebook Activity page, which is also located under Your Facebook Information. Here you will find data about third-party sites and services that transmit information about you to Facebook, you can see what specific information they share (section "Manage information about actions outside of Facebook"), and delete it (section "Clear history").

How to delete information about yourself from Instagram

Instagram is part of the Facebook media empire, so the conditions for storing, using and administering user data are largely similar. You can view, download and - in some cases - clear information about your activities within the service. Most of the features for managing your information on Instagram are located in the "Security" section of the "Settings" menu.

In the Data Access section, you can see what information the social network has collected about you. Not all data can be deleted, but the information from the "Account Activity" section can and should be cleared.

Figure 2. User data collected by Instagram

The Apps & Sites menu item contains information about Instagram-related third-party services. If you used your account details to log in to another site, then its owners may have access to some information from your profile. We recommend that you audit the connected services and remove those that you no longer use.

Instagram stores and uses your search history for personalization purposes. This information is involved in the formation of a "smart feed" and the display of targeted advertising. You can view the relevant data and clear it in the "Search History" section.

To download an archive of all the data collected about you by Instagram, you need to go to the "Download data" section, enter the email address where the link will be sent, and click the "Request file" button. Interestingly, you can specify any mailbox as a recipient, not just the one associated with your profile. To verify the request, Instagram will prompt you to enter a valid password for your account.

How to remove your information from Twitter

Just like Facebook, Twitter collects a lot of information about you to manage smart feed (show posts based on your preferences) and target ads. Removing or preventing the storage of some of such information may affect the operation of these services; This is something to keep in mind when changing your privacy settings on Twitter.

You can download data about you accumulated by the social network; this will allow you to understand what personal information Twitter holds, as well as to have an archive of published posts and photos. To request a download of information, follow these steps:

  • Open Settings & Privacy from the main menu.
  • Select "Your account" and click "Download your data archive".
  • Click the "Request Archive" button in the "Twitter Data" section.

After the social network creates an archive with information about you, a link to download it will be sent to the e-mail specified in your account.

Unfortunately, you can remove all information about yourself from Twitter only by deleting your profile, and even then in this matter you will have to rely on the honesty of the service. However, you can adjust the privacy of your account to reduce the amount of information about your activity saved by the social network. To do this, in the "Settings and Privacy" section of the main menu, select the "Privacy and Security" item.

Figure 3. Off-Twitter Data Management Menu

In the “Sharing and Actions Off-Twitter” section, there are four important privacy sections:

    900 Ad Preferences. This is where information about your interests is stored, based on which Twitter serves ads. You can either completely disable ad personalization or uncheck individual items. Scroll through the "Interests" list - I'm sure you will find unexpected topics there.
  • "Actions outside of Twitter." The social network can follow you not only when you view the feed, but also when you visit third-party sites - for example, if someone's tweets are embedded in their pages. In addition, Twitter collects data about your devices and browsers in order to personalize the content shown. If you do not want such close attention to your person, disable these features.
  • "Provision of data to business partners." We recommend that you uncheck the box next to "Allow to provide additional information to business partners" in order to exclude the potential possibility of disclosing information that is important to you.
  • "Location Information". Open the Visited Places section and clear the list of locations saved there. Additionally, we recommend that you disable Twitter from tracking and saving your location altogether - this can be done in the mobile application. So information about your movements will be protected from possible leaks.

To complete the process of removing redundant data about yourself on Twitter, take a look at the "Security and account access" section, which is also located in the "Settings and privacy" menu. Here you can edit the list of applications that are associated with your account - for example, used its data for authorization.

How to remove information about yourself from VKontakte

Unfortunately, the leading Russian social network does not provide the user with advanced tools for managing personal data. Even the basic function of downloading an archive of personal information appeared in it only a couple of years ago. To ensure the necessary level of confidentiality of information, the creators of VKontakte offer to set the visibility of information about you for other people and services (this can be done in the "Privacy" section), but they do not allow you to regulate their storage and further use.

You can delete all information about yourself from VKontakte only when deleting your account. However, even in this case, your data will be stored on the servers of the social network for some more time, during which you will be given the opportunity to restore your profile.

Figure 4. Information about data management in VKontakte

select the "Data Management Order" section. From it you can find out what information the social network collects about you and how it uses it. The button for requesting the accumulated data archive is located at the bottom of the page. The download link will be sent to the email address associated with your account. The term for completing the application is from three hours to several days, depending on the composition of the requested information.

Conclusions

The most effective way to delete data from social networks is to completely delete your account. Theoretically, one month after you have deactivated your profile, all data associated with it should be deleted from the servers of the company that owns the service. In practice, this does not always happen. If, 30 days after deleting your account, you find that your information is still being used by a social network, you need to contact its technical support with a letter withdrawing consent to the processing of personal information, and if this does not help, write a complaint to Rospotrebnadzor.

However, deleting an account is a drastic measure. In the vast majority of cases, information about the user's actions in the social network is used to make his work with the service more convenient. Simple rules of information hygiene will help you find a balance between a comfortable level of privacy and using the opportunities of the site for communication and entertainment:

  • Register only in those services that you intend to use. Do not create "dead" accounts - leave fewer digital imprints of your personality on third-party resources.
  • When filling out information about yourself in your profile, limit yourself to the minimum set of required data - consider whether you need to tell the social network your date of birth or place of residence. Perhaps the rules of the service allow the use of a pseudonym instead of a real name and an abstract avatar instead of a photo.
  • Set your privacy settings so that as few of your actions as possible are logged by the service. Disable the access of the social network mobile application to your geolocation, prohibit integration with the contact list on the phone, cancel saving the search history. Check the status of these settings regularly so that the social network does not change your privacy level unilaterally.
  • Regularly download and check the data collected by the social network about you. So you can control their volume, as well as save important information in case of loss of your account.
  • Install browser extensions that restrict websites from tracking your activity. For example, for Firefox, there is a special Facebook Container plugin that prevents the social network from following you on other resources.

How to delete an Instagram account: instructions

Sometimes it's good to take a break from social media, but self-discipline only allows a few. Then deleting the profile comes to the rescue. We explain how to delete from Instagram permanently or temporarily, saving data

Since March 21, 2022, the social networks Facebook and Instagram have been banned in Russia by a court decision, and the Meta Platforms holding company that owns them has been recognized as an extremist organization and is also banned.

Some users notice that they devote too much time to managing their Instagram account to the detriment of work and personal affairs. Even the owner of Instagram, Meta, admitted in internal documents that its social networks have a negative impact on sleep, work, parenting, work productivity and personal life of approximately 12.5% ​​of users. And scientists from the University of British Columbia found that users' own lives begin to seem insufficiently bright and interesting compared to what they see on Instagram.

Meanwhile, until the spring of 2022, the social network was consistently in the top 10 in terms of downloads in Russia and in the world. The international agency We Are Social estimated that in 2021 Instagram ranked fourth in our country in terms of the number of users (61.2% of Russian Internet users go there), and in total 67.8% of the Russian population (99 million people) use social networks. The average Russian spends 3 hours a day outside of work at the monitor or with a smartphone.

In November 2021, Instagram began testing the Take a Break feature. It will allow users to escape from the continuous viewing of the feed. In the settings, it will be possible to set reminders for breaks, for example, 10, 20 or 30 minutes. After that, the application will issue a warning about the need to rest. However, this feature has been opened to a limited number of users so far.

For now, everyone has the only alternative - to give up Instagram for a while or for good.

How to permanently delete an Instagram account

This option should be chosen when the profile is definitely no longer useful: for example, if we are talking about the account of a company that has closed.

Before deleting a profile, Instagram will offer to save data from it. To do this, you need to send a download request. After that, an email will be sent to your email within 48 hours with a link where you can download photos and videos. You can also request a copy of your data through the Instagram app for Android and iPhone. To do this, open the menu in the profile, go to the "Settings" - "Security" section and select the "Download data" item. Next, you will need to enter your email address and account password.

Download request from Instagram

Even after deleting the profile, it will be visible on the social network for another 30 days. During this time, the user can change his mind and restore the account. If within a month the owner of the profile has never logged into the system, then the account is permanently deleted.

In the web version

To delete a profile using a computer, you need to perform several steps:

  • go to the social network site and click on the "Help" button in the lower right corner;
  • go to the "Help Center" and select the line "Delete your account" in the left menu;
  • follow the link suggested in the article;
  • specify the reason for deleting the profile;
  • confirm the action by entering a password.

From Smartphone

To delete an Instagram profile using your phone, you need to take more steps:

  • log in to your profile in the app and click on "Settings";
  • in the menu that appears, select the "Help" line and go to the "Help Center";
  • on the page that opens, select the item "Manage your account";
  • in the search bar enter the query "Delete profile";
  • go to the article "How to delete your Instagram account";
  • follow the link in the article;
  • indicate the reason for deleting the account and enter the page password.

How to temporarily delete an Instagram account

The user can also stop using Instagram for any period and then restore the page. However, you can do this no more than once a week. A temporarily deleted profile is not visible to other users of the social network. To restore it, you just need to log into the application.

In the web version

To temporarily deactivate your profile using a computer, you must perform the following steps:

  • go to the social network site under your account;
  • click on the profile photo and select "Settings" in the menu that opens;
  • at the bottom of the page, click on the link "Temporarily disable my account";
  • on the page that opens, indicate the reason for the temporary disconnection and enter the account password.

From the phone

As in the case of the "permanent" deletion, temporary blocking of Instagram will require more steps:

  • go to your profile;
  • go to the "Settings" section and select the "Help" item;
  • in the menu that appears, click on the line "Help Center";
  • on the support page, open the "Manage your account" item;
  • in the search bar, enter "Temporarily disable";
  • go to the article "How to delete your Instagram account";
  • click on the link "How to temporarily disable your account" and find the article "Instagram. com website from a mobile browser";
  • click on the link in the first paragraph of the instruction and go to the mobile browser;
  • on the main page of the account, click on the "Edit profile" button;
  • select the link "Temporarily disable my account" at the bottom of the page.

Is it possible to delete a blocked Instagram account

To delete your account, you need to know your username and password. A forgotten password can be reset using an email address, phone number, or Facebook account. If the user does not have access to the email address specified during registration, and his Instagram and Facebook accounts are not linked, then the support service will not be able to provide access to the account.

In the event that an Instagram account has been blocked by the social network itself, its owner will see a corresponding message when logging in. He can appeal this decision. To do this, you need to open the app, enter your username and password, and then follow the instructions on the screen.

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