How to reverse image search on Instagram

Instagram is probably the most popular free image sharing app. Its users can range from MUAs to photographers or even people who run accounts for their cats! As a content creator, it’s a great platform to promote your work on. By using the appropriate hashtags, many people can see your work. However, this also comes with some downsides, since it’s possible that someone might steal your work and try to portray it as their own without you even knowing. But don’t worry: finding out if someone is posting your pictures is possible.

When do you need Instagram image search?

Instagram image search could work in two ways: either by a search on Instagram by image, or a reverse image search by Instagram image. Unfortunately, an internal image search option on Instagram does not exist, so if you’re afraid that someone is stealing your content and posting it outside of the platform, you can use a reverse image search tool to perform a search.

Some of the most popular search engines for such purposes include Google Images and TinEye. Performing a search with them is rather simple; upload or paste the URL of the photo you wish to perform a reverse image search with and wait for the results to load. However, keep in mind that pasting the URL of a post from Instagram will not work! TinEye will show you all results which are identical to the submitted picture (if they of course exist), meanwhile Google Images will show you a list of visually similar images. However, be aware that the best results will always be displayed at the top of the list.

Search engines for reverse image search on Instagram

Performing a reverse image search on Instagram is not possible. Any websites or apps which claim that they can do that, are scams. Instagram has strict regulations which protect its users' data, making any image search on the platform impossible.

How to protect your photos from plagiarism

As a content creator, using watermarks on your photos can be helpful in the case of plagiarism. Someone may notice your watermark on a picture which has been stolen and re-posted and inform you of this. You can place your watermark on any place of the picture you wish to, for example: the center, one of its corners. Usually, such watermarks are a little bit sheer so people can still have an idea of how the entire picture looks like. However, that is something that you decide as the author of the image.

You also shouldn’t share your photos in their original size and always compress them. You can even add your copyright to an images metadata! All this can be done in image editing software such as Photoshop or PhotoScape.

These are just some ways in which you can protect your photos from potential plagiarism. However, checking and making sure that indeed no one has stolen your content is also important. You can do that by using a reverse image search engine.

Can I use face recognition to find someone's identity on Instagram?

Face recognition tools (such as PimEyes), are dedicated for personal use only. Trying to find out someone’s identity on social media goes against a person's privacy and there is no way that someone would be able to find out a person’s identity through a picture on Instagram, since this is technically impossible. The same case applies to Facebook, which is also Instagram’s parent company. In order to summarize this, we have to say that using face recognition to find someone’s identity on Instagram isn’t possible.

However, you can use a reverse image face recognition tool in order to monitor your own image online! PimEyes will find pictures of you from the open web and you can make sure that nobody has stolen your pictures. In the case where your pictures are indeed being used by someone else without your permission, waste no time and seek legal help so you can protect your image.

Summary

Instagram is a great platform to make and find posts related to your interests. By creating a user account, you can get access to thousands of posts you might like. You can also post your own content if you want to. However, Instagram doesn’t provide any tools to protect your work and check if anyone is using it illegally . But with software such as Google Images and TinEye you can upload a screenshot of your posts to make sure they aren’t being plagiarized on other websites. However, searching up people on Instagram is impossible. Every profile is protected and there is no way to find their personal data with a reverse image search.