Instagram Testing New Feature for Public Accounts to Remove Followers

Your go-to social media app may soon become a little safer in the privacy department.

Instagram is currently testing out a feature that would allow public accounts to remove followers from their total follower count, should the account be inclined to do so. The Verge was the first to confirm the news, explaining how this would be a comfortable solution to manage privacy, as it's not as extreme as blocking a person or making your account private. The removal would happen with a click of a button on a specific user's account, and the user who has been removed wouldn't be notified when and if it occurred.

You may be thinking, I love my large follower count and don't understand why anyone would do this, which is a reasonable mindset to have. Think about it this way: Let's say you have a brief falling out with a friend or you break up with your significant other, and you're not inclined to let them have ready access to your Instagram page. Removing them from your followers is a subtle way of keeping them at a distance that isn't as aggressive as flat-out blocking them. Celebrities and prominent Instagram users could also utilize this to keep "trolls" at bay, in the same vein of disabling comments or blocking words on certain photos to combat cyber-bullying. The only downside is that, yes, the user you removed could realize what happened and re-follow you, but this might be a happy medium people have been looking for. The Verge notes that Instagram is currently testing this out on Android devices — whether the company makes it a permanent feature is unknown — so take a look and see if you already have access to this.

Should this be implemented, it would be the second time this year that Instagram rolled out a feature that gives users a little more control over who they're viewing and who views what on their own accounts. In the spring, the 'gram unveiled its new "mute" feature, which allows users to mute people from their timelines but still follow them. (Say, your weird aunt who posts about a dozen grainy pics a day.)

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