Instagram Polls is embarrassing users who thought their votes were anonymous

People have been getting up to mischief, thinking they wouldn't get caught

Wednesday 18 October 2017 11:35 BST

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Instagram’s latest feature is causing lots of embarrassment for users.

The picture-sharing platform this week added a new Polls sticker to Stories, allowing users to submit a question and invite their followers to vote for one of two options, and see real-time results.

However, lots of users have now found themselves in hot water, having only just realised that their votes aren’t anonymous.

People are taking to Twitter to express their surprise, with some users confessing that they’ve been getting up to mischief, having assumed their identity would be hidden and protected.

Instagram announced Polls in a blog post, which made it clear that the user who posted the poll would be able to see who voted for each option.

“To see your own poll results, swipe up to open the viewers list for that part of your story,” it reads. “There you’ll see everything you need to get the best answer for your question. Not only will you see how many votes each option received, but you’ll also see who voted and what option they chose.

“That way, you’ll be able to compare votes from the friends and followers whose opinions you trust most. And just like your story, your poll and its results will disappear after 24 hours.”

Unfortunately, it appears that the blog post wasn’t seen by a lot of users.

A recent report found that Instagram has a more detrimental effect on young people’s mental health than other social networks.

In an effort to clean up the platform, it launched "Kindness Stickers" and tighter comment controls last week.