Instagram has introduced a new feature that will allow users to review and restore deleted content – including photos, videos, reels, IGTV videos and stories.
Thanks to the ‘Recently Deleted’ feature, content that is removed from a users account will be moved to the Recently Deleted folder and automatically deleted after 30 days. Deleted stories that are not archived will stay in the folder for up to 24 hours.
How to Restore Deleted Photos and Videos:
Within the 30 day period, users can access deleted content by going to Settings > Account > Recently Deleted on the latest version of the Instagram app. From there users can either choose to restore or permanently delete it.
New Instagram user account protection
The social media giant has also added new layers of protection to help prevent hackers from compromising users accounts and deleting posts.
“We know hackers sometimes delete content when they gain access to an account, and until now people had no way of easily getting their photos and videos back,” reads an official blog post from Instagram.
With this in mind, users will now be asked to first verify that they are the rightful account holders when permanently deleting or restoring content from Recently Deleted.
Instagram Bug Stored Users’ Deleted Photos and DMs
Security researcher, Saugat Pokharel has uncovered that Instagram “retained photos and private direct messages on its servers long after he deleted them,” reports TechCrunch.
While it’s not unusual for tech companies to temporarily store their users deleted data, Instagram claimed that it only takes 90 days for photos and direct messages to be completely removed from its systems.
Pokharel says “Instagram didn’t delete my data even when I deleted them from my end” – this includes data that was more than a year old.
“The researcher reported an issue where someone’s deleted Instagram images and messages would be included in a copy of their information if they used our Download Your Information tool on Instagram,” an Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch.
“We’ve fixed the issue and have seen no evidence of abuse. We thank the researcher for reporting this issue to us.”
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