cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/31187638

Earlier today I came across a Reddit comment with a link to an Instagram post. The link had ?igsh= at the end.

When I clicked on the link, I got this popup. It had a name and profile photo that was different from that of the post being shared.

Join Firstname Lastname on Instagram

See photos, videos, and more from Firstname Lastname.

[ Open Instagram ]

not now

I avoid link trackers. However, I did not realize it was this bad.

To my knowledge, TikTok does the same thing and lists the name of the person that shared the link. Assuming this increases engagement, any website could enable such a feature, even on old links that you shared in the past.

You should manually remove any trackers before sharing, or use an app for it.

  • oce 🐆
    link
    fedilink
    286 hours ago

    Latest versions of Firefox offer to copy and paste URL without trackers. I am not sure how it compares to specialized tools.

    • @aleq
      link
      64 hours ago

      How do I use this feature? I’m a Firefox user since quantum and had no idea this was a thing.

        • @aleq
          link
          54 hours ago

          Never knew it, very neat!