Internet Culture

Instagram meme ‘refugees’ are flooding Reddit

Will this Internet odd-couple bond over memes or is a war brewing?

Photo of David Britton

David Britton

instagram reddit meme

Owners of popular -based Instagram accounts, who recently saw their accounts deleted, are moving over to Reddit, and they aren’t exactly being greeted with open arms.

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As we previously reported, over 30 major Instagram meme accounts were deleted by the platform in one fell swoop last week.

“These accounts were disabled following multiple violations of our policies, including attempted abuse of our internal processes,” a spokesperson told the Daily Dot via email. The alleged violations include things like selling and purchasing of usernames and attempting to fraudulently obtain others’ usernames.

The accounts were serious business for some users, who claimed they made big money through advertisements and sponsorships. Some of them took to Twitter to complain about the loss.

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https://twitter.com/spicymp4/status/1154918331348115456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1154918331348115456&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailydot.com%2Funclick%2Finstagram-meme-page-purge%2F

But the people behind these accounts aren’t getting the sympathy they were hoping for. The majority of the responses were from users accusing the owners of these accounts of stealing content without crediting, much less paying, the original meme creators.

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https://twitter.com/pikohnine/status/1155326436842057728

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Some of the people who ran those meme accounts on Instagram are now moving over to Reddit, the very site from which they are accused of stealing. The majority of redditors are responding to the new users, who they refer to as “Instagram normies” or simply “normies,” not by complaining about content theft, but by making fun of them for not knowing how Reddit works. The redditors are using emojis and mocking double-tapping on posts, which on Instagram adds a like, but which only zooms in on the mobile version of Reddit.

Stop this from spreading
byu/jjoonis inmemes
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I’m sorry I had to use emojis guys
byu/ABenKx indankmemes

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It definitely is
byu/_Ga1ahad inmemes

Educate
byu/kayyyman indankmemes
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Reddit version for obvious reasons
byu/sezdawg7 inmemes
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Teach ‘em real quick
byu/Action-Bell inmemes

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I come in peace
byu/gofundmemetoday inmemes

No double tap around these parts
byu/Opcay inmemes
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You have become the very thing you swore to destroy
byu/Xavinights inmemes
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Well boys, we did it.
by indankmemes

There’s also a trend to confuse the newcomers by posting memes without captions.

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instagram normies right now
byu/IsOkayToBeLesbiGay inmemes

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Real goldfish hours
byu/Beep_Beep_Lettuce24 indankmemes

Although a few redditors are breaking from the herd and welcoming the newcomers.

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For all the newcomers out there… Welcome
by inmemes

User Beautiful_Dirt wrote on the r/memes subreddit, “We need to stick together and welcome our new family members and give them a safe haven. A lot of us here use this sub, and other subs and mediums as a great way of relaxing and unwinding after a stressful day IRL, and we believe that everyone is entitled to enjoy this sub no matter who you are if you’re willing to follow the rules and love memes.”

It’s interesting that the general feeling coming from Reddit is more mild annoyance than actual anger. It’s possible that, given a little more time, the former Instagram users will be totally accepted on their newly adopted platform.

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Of course, with no clear or easy way to make money posting on Reddit, they might not have much incentive to stick around.

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