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Instagram does not allow you to generate links when you paste a URL in the title of a post and that is perhaps one of the oldest limitations of the platform.
Well, so far, the lack of this feature has been a very conscientious attempt by the Instagram team to make sure the user experience has not been too intrusive. However, you may have to put up with more sponsored posts soon, as a newly discovered patent application suggests Instagram might be considering charging a fee to allow users to add links to photo captions.
Protocol discovered the patent, which was filed by Instagram in 2016. The patent displays a pop-up message that should appear when a user adds a link in a title. The caption would read “Would you like to activate the link in your caption for $ 2.00?”
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The patent, filed in 2016, reveals a mechanism in which Instagram will ask users to pay a fee to place links in their posts when its system identifies that a text string of the link is included in the title. This is intended to prevent advertisers from promoting a product or service on the platform through captions without paying for the ad. For general users, Instagram argued that allowing them to freely add links to their posts can lead to spam distribution.
Instagram also noted that the fee for paid links can be flat or can vary based on some factors, such as the number of the user’s followers or the views of previous posts. The patent document states that this could apply to businesses, however individual users may not have to pay at all.
As with any other patent, Instagram may never add this feature as companies apply for patents all the time without actually going through with them.
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