Instagram Link Stickers rolled out, but read warning first; here’s how to use

Instagram Link Stickers have a hate speech warning and users must read it first.

Instagram Link Stickers feature helps businesses, activists and content creators to link their products to external sources. (Instagram)

Instagram, back in June, had started testing a feature called Link Stickers on its platform. At the time the feature was limited to verified accounts and those with a certain number of followers only. Now, almost four months later, the Facebook-owned image and video sharing platform has started rolling out its Link Sticker feature to all its users across the globe.

For those of you who aren't sure what this feature does, here is a quick brief: Instagram Link Stickers feature helps businesses, activists and content creators to link their products to external sources. The company also says that the feature benefits a wide range of Instagram users. “From organizing and educating around equity, social justice and mental well-being to showcasing new product drops to customers, link sharing is helpful in many ways,” Instagram wrote in a blog post.

Instagram Hate Speech Warning

Instagram in its blog post also cautioned that its Link Stickers feature can also be used for sharing hate speech and misinformation and so as a part of the preventive measure, the company is ensuring that Instagram accounts that violate its Community Guidelines don't have access to the Link Sticker feature. “As part of our ongoing efforts to limit harmful content on Instagram, new accounts and accounts that repeatedly share things like hate speech and misinformation, or other content that violates our Community Guidelines will not have access to the Link sticker,” Instagram added in its blog post.

Here's a step-by-step description of how you can add a Link Sticker to your Instagram story:

Step 1: Capture or upload content to your story.

Step 2: Select the sticker tool from the top navigation bar.

Step 3: Tap the “Link” sticker to add your desired link and tap “Done”.

Step 4: Place the sticker on your story.

Step 5: Tap on the sticker to see colour variations.

In addition to announcing the availability of its Link Stickers feature to everyone, the Facebook-owned image and video sharing platform also said that it is working on refining this feature further. “We're also working on ways to customize the sticker so it's clear what someone will see when they tap your link,” Instagram wrote in its blog post.