My sister is 20F and has a public Instagram account (I’m 30F). She has over a thousand followers and keeps working to get more – she’s not trying to keep a low profile. It’s mostly about her hobbies and daily life, including venting about family members publicly. [It’s not like OnlyFans or other NSFW content]
Back when she was in high school and made the account I had already been on Instagram for a couple years so I followed her and we would often share posts/talk about them. But last summer she started changing her relationship with me and got really defensive about her social media. She told me not to follow her Instagram anymore because she doesn’t want me to see what she’s posting on there (keep in mind this is public so anyone can see what she posts – it’s not private). It has blown up into a huge conflict between us where she says I’m ‘invading her privacy’ for reading what she posts and is really angry at me.
She’s an adult and can post what she wants – I don’t police her posts or comment on them. But I feel like if she wants “privacy” then she shouldn’t post things publicly and get upset if people see and talk about them.
But clearly she has a very different perspective, and I hate that this has hurt our relationships. She refuses to talk to me about it and just insists she is right in her view and my actions are beyond horrible. [Again, I do not interact with her public posts, but I do read them and she knows that].
So tell me – AITA for reading my younger sister’s public social media profile?
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My sister is 20F and has a public Instagram account (I’m 30F). She has over a thousand followers and keeps working to get more – she’s not trying to keep a low profile. It’s mostly about her hobbies and daily life, including venting about family members publicly. [It’s not like OnlyFans or other NSFW content]
Back when she was in high school and made the account I had already been on Instagram for a couple years so I followed her and we would often share posts/talk about them. But last summer she started changing her relationship with me and got really defensive about her social media. She told me not to follow her Instagram anymore because she doesn’t want me to see what she’s posting on there (keep in mind this is public so anyone can see what she posts – it’s not private). It has blown up into a huge conflict between us where she says I’m ‘invading her privacy’ for reading what she posts and is really angry at me.
She’s an adult and can post what she wants – I don’t police her posts or comment on them. But I feel like if she wants “privacy” then she shouldn’t post things publicly and get upset if people see and talk about them.
But clearly she has a very different perspective, and I hate that this has hurt our relationships. She refuses to talk to me about it and just insists she is right in her view and my actions are beyond horrible. [Again, I do not interact with her public posts, but I do read them and she knows that].
So tell me – AITA for reading my younger sister’s public social media profile?
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> Am I the asshole for continuing to read my younger sister’s social media account even though she doesn’t want me to?
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA it’s a public Instagram on the public internet that is not a private space.
NTA. Inform her of the ability to block other users.
NTA she’s being ridiculous. she could block you if it really bothered her. but i guess she’s so thirsty for followers she doesn’t want to lose even one. she’s trying to have her cake and eat it too
NTA. And I’m kinda concerned that at 20 she doesn’t understand how social media works.
INFO
How does she know you’re looking at them? Is this more about what you say about it?
NTA. If she is that protective about it, she should either make her account private or block certain people.
NTA. She is posting these things publicly. You can’t “invade her privacy” when she is putting this content out there for anyone and everyone to see.
If she doesn’t want you (or someone else) to see certain aspects of her life, she shouldn’t be putting those things on a public social media profile.
NTA. I’d argue the bigger invasion of privacy is her putting your family’s business out there w/o consent.
Honestly, it’s a public account, so it’s open season the moment she posts stuff up. If she wanted privacy, she shoulda gone private imo. Ppl need to understand how the internet works before posting anything out there. EMOTION, fam. She’s not TA for wanting boundaries but neither are you for scrolling through PUBLIC content, it’s weird she’s drawing the line at u. Hence, ESH. Maybe private convos need to happen here for better understandin’.🤷♂️👀💯
NTA. It really sounds like someone needs to have a talk with her to find out if she actually understand the implications of what putting things on a publicly available social media page means. Does she actually comprehend that this means that literally anyone on the planet, including family, can freely access these posts? That there is no expectation of privacy in this situation, what she is doing is pretty much the exact opposite of private.
No. Internet anonymity is a lie. The platform she’s using is public.
NTA
It really sounds like she wants to be able to talk negatively about family without feeling guilty that family is seeing it.
But it’s a public page. Even if you unfollow, the algorithm may serve you her posts. If she wants privacy, post in private channels.
NTA
The younger generation struggles sometimes with understanding that they can’t control their audience and the subsequent commentary (posted or spoken) of their social media content if they fail to adjust their privacy settings.
NTA period.