Instagram tightens rules on AI-generated human profiles

Instagram is tightening its rules for profiles that present AI-generated people as their faces. Accounts that fail to label such profiles correctly may see their reach reduced.

The Meta-owned platform announced the change in late August, alongside a new name for the label attached to AI-based profiles. “AI creator” is being replaced with “AI-generated profile,” which Instagram said should make it easier for users to understand when the person shown in a profile was created, or largely created, with AI.

The policy does not apply to every use of artificial intelligence. Creators who use AI only to edit photographs, improve captions, produce graphics or make other creative adjustments will not need the “AI-generated profile” label.

Instagram said it introduced the change after receiving complaints about the growing number of accounts that looked as though they belonged to real people but actually featured figures created entirely with AI. The move comes as AI influencers spread across social media. Republika, citing TechCrunch, reported that The New York Times found hundreds of AI-created doctors and health and fitness figures on social media in July 2026. Some of those accounts promoted supplements or made health claims.

Instagram has also faced criticism over an AI feature that allowed users to create images using another person’s likeness. Users objected that their public Instagram content could be used without explicit consent, and Meta later removed the feature.

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As AI adoption in content creation becomes increasingly widespread, we have received complaints from users about the proliferation of profiles that appear human but are actually AI.