{"id":14631,"date":"2022-04-04T12:53:02","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T18:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/panmankey\/?p=14631"},"modified":"2022-04-04T12:53:02","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T18:53:02","slug":"instagram-does-not-care-about-witches-pagans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/panmankey\/2022\/04\/instagram-does-not-care-about-witches-pagans\/","title":{"rendered":"Instagram Does Not Care About Witches & Pagans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This morning I opened up Instagram and was delighted to find myself tagged in a post from Thorn Mooney. In her post Thorn was contemplating the end of Winter and how a lot of her friends had new books out. Only it wasn\u2019t really Thorn Mooney (whose Instagram handle is thornthewitch<\/a>), it was thoo<\/strong>rnthewitch. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Of course thoornthewitch isn\u2019t Thorn Mooney, it\u2019s actually someone calling themselves \u201cAndromeda Skies\u201d and before they were impersonating Thorn Mooney their page was mostly just Tarot spreads, and advertisements for their Tarot readings. I guess that wasn\u2019t enough for \u201cAndromeda\u201d though and they thought the Tarot reading business would be more lucrative by impersonating Thorn. Adding insult to injury, Andromeda\u2019s account has several thousand more followers than Thorn\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\"\"
Certainly Courtney is capable of starting her own clothing brand, but I don\u2019t think she\u2019s done that yet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scrolling through Instagram this morning I encountered fake accounts for both Courtney Webber and Madame Pamita<\/a>, two people I absolutely adore (and seriously, pick up Pamita\u2019s Baba Yaga\u2019s Book of Witchcraft<\/em> ASAP). And seriously, I feel like I\u2019m alerted to a fake Pamita account about every three or four days. <\/p>\n

Most often reporting fake accounts does absolutely nothing. I know that when I report a fake account I usually get a reply back that Instagram has found nothing wrong with the account impersonating one of my friends. Two seconds of actual work by the people at \u201cMeta\u201d would reveal that the account was fake, but apparently that\u2019s asking too much. <\/p>\n

PROTECT YOURSELF & HELP THOSE YOU FOLLOW<\/strong><\/p>\n

When using Instagram take an extra few seconds to actively look at the username of the account you are choosing to follow. If there\u2019s a weird misspelling or an extra number or letter in there you are probably encountering a fake. Legitimate creators on Instagram don\u2019t randomly message their followers asking if someone out there wants a Tarot card reading either. That\u2019s a sure sign of a scammer, and giving your credit card information to a scammer could have pretty rotten consequences. <\/p>\n

In fact most content creators\/author types don\u2019t randomly message people at all! I think it would be pretty cool if Meg Rosenbriar<\/a> were to just randomly message me on Instagram, but it feels unlikely. Most people who write books or run stores or whatever don\u2019t have a ton of extra time on their hands, in other words random messages would not be very productive. <\/p>\n

\"\"
Note the double \u201ct.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though Instagram is unlikely to really act on a complaint, report the fake account anyways. After days (weeks?) of constant reporting, these fake accounts eventually come down (thought obviously it shouldn\u2019t take that long). My favorite thing to do is to tweet at the Instagram account on Twitter since that feels like the only way Instagram might actually pay attention to me. <\/p>\n

INSTAGRAM, YOU SUCK<\/strong><\/p>\n

It would be great if Instagram offered some sort of verification to make it easier to spot fakes. Oh, what\u2019s that you say?, Instagram does actually offer such a service? It\u2019s true that you can get a checkmark on Instagram, but such verifications seem reserved only for the elite of the elite, musicians, TV\/movie stars, athletes. There seems to be no serious effort on Instagram\u2019s part to extend this type of service to people outside of a select few areas. (If Mat Auryn had a blue check, maybe there wouldn\u2019t be so many fake accounts with his name?) <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perhaps 35,000 followers is \u201csmall potatoes\u201d by the standards of Instagram, but that\u2019s still a lot of people! Mat wrote an absolute best-selling book<\/a> (and has another one on the way<\/a>!), shouldn\u2019t that be enough for some sort of verification. And I know that Instagram is watching, they moved my account to \u201cinfluencer\u201d status and I have barely 3000 followers. They know better and still don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

What can be done? Mark Zuckerberg has proven time and time again he doesn\u2019t give two shits about protecting his users or making any meaningful changes in his products. And I\u2019d love to tell you that we should all boycott services like Instagram, but for many authors social media has become THE way to promote books and events. (I signed up to write books, not make Reels for Instagram and TikTok videos, but that\u2019s part of the deal now.) Hopefully complaining and complaining loudly might have some affect, but I\u2019m not holding my breath. <\/p>\n

Find Jason Online<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n
My Patreon Starts at Two Bucks!<\/a>\u00a0\n
The Witch\u2019s Book of Spellcraft<\/a>\u00a0\n
The Horned God of the Witches<\/a>\u00a0\n
Transformative Witchcraft: The Greater Mysteries<\/a>\u00a0\n
The Witch\u2019s Wheel of the Year: Circles for Solitaries, Circles, & Covens<\/a>\u00a0\n
Raise the Horns on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 Jason\u2019s Twitter<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nPictures Of Magickal Stuff<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n
Witch With Books Podcast<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/span><\/h5><\/span><\/h5><\/span><\/h5><\/span><\/h5><\/span><\/h5><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Numerous scam accounts? Check. No way for Witch content creators to verify themselves? Check. To put it simply, Instagram does not care about Witches and Pagans. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":493,"featured_media":14643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nInstagram Does Not Care About Witches & Pagans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Numerous scam accounts? Check. No way for Witch content creators to verify themselves? Check. 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