The man who looks after the US’s nuclear arsenal and is the secretary of energy, Rick Perry, recently fell for an Instagram hoax. The politician had shared a piece of false advice which suggested that Instagram users should post a message or else their uploaded pictures will be accessible to anyone.
The hollowness of the post was repeatedly discussed and scrutinized, concluding that the message was fake. It was also found that the message Mr. Rick Perry had shared on his Instagram handle was edited to make it relevant for Instagram.
The politician working for Donald Trump’s cabinet captioned the post, “Feel free to repost!” He also mentioned a hashtag, “no thanks Instagram”.
The claims made in the post are all false. The social site is already able to use our photos posted there. Anything posted which is against the terms and conditions of the site will automatically be opted out by Instagram.
Lack of social media expertise is the reason for Rick Perry’s denial and refusal to put down the post even after he was made aware of the embarrassing mistake he had made on the public platform.
The public left no stone unturned to make fun of the situation. One of the users commented, ‘How the hell are you in charge of the department of energy when you fall for the social media version of a chain email.” One of them commented sarcastically why Perry didn’t delete the post yet!
This is not the first time such hoaxes have gone viral. Hoaxes like these have been fooling people for many years. A few years ago, the same image with a message of policy change warned Facebook users in 2012. Facebook had declared it false by posting a message on its help center.