couragecel
Romance is only cute when you're a prince.
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- Jan 6, 2026
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Before anyone writes "DNR" (Do Not Read), I'll be honest: this has nothing to do with the forum, but I'm posting it anyway.
Even though Instagram doesn't openly admit it, some "Suggested for you" accounts that appear in the main feed can indicate stalking, especially in the type of situation I'm going to explain from my case.
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I have a very complicated situation with a girl from school. I used to flirt with her, I gave her a stuffed animal that she still keeps with great care after more than 1.5 years (her mom told me), and so on.
But at the beginning of this year, I simply got tired and quit Instagram. I deactivated my account. Very shortly after, when my mom liked a school Instagram post, both the girl and her mom appeared as suggestions together. Her mom disappeared after the first few days, but the girl kept appearing for a while — around 10 days — until I noticed.
I started getting curious because she was always showing up in first position (on the left). According to Meta's AI, that spot is reserved for users with a high level of relevance/interaction with you, and Instagram pushes you to follow them quickly.
The problem is that neither I nor my mom have **literally anything** in common with her. I don't follow the girl, I don't have her number, I don't follow her friends, I barely follow anyone from school, there's no Bluetooth proximity, no shared watched content, etc. My mom also has nothing in common with her.
So I talked a lot with the AI and ran a test. She was appearing around 3 times a day in the suggestions, **always in first place** — it was consistent. Then I asked my mom to post an old childhood photo of me. In the following days, the girl appeared 7–8 times, still in first place, and then went back to normal.
I took my mom's phone and cleared the app cache to rule out a bug. There were moments when she would drop from first to second place, but she quickly went back to first. Today it's already been **81 days** that she keeps appearing. No one else from school appears for my mom.
It makes sense that a shy girl would stalk the mom of the guy she likes to get information about him. She has never seen any of my Stories...
This is a case where there are no excuses. My mom visited the profile of a random boy from school about 3 times — he appeared in third place but disappeared shortly after. Meanwhile, this girl (whose profile my mom has **never** visited) appears every day in first place for 81 days.
The girl has a private profile and my mom has a public one. In real life, the signs that she likes me are even more obvious, but that's not the point.
I want to know if any of you have gone through something similar: a person you have real-life contact with, but **zero** connection on any app, and they still appear in your suggestions — along with their mom. Especially right after you delete your Instagram and your mom likes a school post (the girl likes all the school posts, so she probably found my mom's username there).
What do you guys think?
Even though Instagram doesn't openly admit it, some "Suggested for you" accounts that appear in the main feed can indicate stalking, especially in the type of situation I'm going to explain from my case.
---
I have a very complicated situation with a girl from school. I used to flirt with her, I gave her a stuffed animal that she still keeps with great care after more than 1.5 years (her mom told me), and so on.
But at the beginning of this year, I simply got tired and quit Instagram. I deactivated my account. Very shortly after, when my mom liked a school Instagram post, both the girl and her mom appeared as suggestions together. Her mom disappeared after the first few days, but the girl kept appearing for a while — around 10 days — until I noticed.
I started getting curious because she was always showing up in first position (on the left). According to Meta's AI, that spot is reserved for users with a high level of relevance/interaction with you, and Instagram pushes you to follow them quickly.
The problem is that neither I nor my mom have **literally anything** in common with her. I don't follow the girl, I don't have her number, I don't follow her friends, I barely follow anyone from school, there's no Bluetooth proximity, no shared watched content, etc. My mom also has nothing in common with her.
So I talked a lot with the AI and ran a test. She was appearing around 3 times a day in the suggestions, **always in first place** — it was consistent. Then I asked my mom to post an old childhood photo of me. In the following days, the girl appeared 7–8 times, still in first place, and then went back to normal.
I took my mom's phone and cleared the app cache to rule out a bug. There were moments when she would drop from first to second place, but she quickly went back to first. Today it's already been **81 days** that she keeps appearing. No one else from school appears for my mom.
It makes sense that a shy girl would stalk the mom of the guy she likes to get information about him. She has never seen any of my Stories...
This is a case where there are no excuses. My mom visited the profile of a random boy from school about 3 times — he appeared in third place but disappeared shortly after. Meanwhile, this girl (whose profile my mom has **never** visited) appears every day in first place for 81 days.
The girl has a private profile and my mom has a public one. In real life, the signs that she likes me are even more obvious, but that's not the point.
I want to know if any of you have gone through something similar: a person you have real-life contact with, but **zero** connection on any app, and they still appear in your suggestions — along with their mom. Especially right after you delete your Instagram and your mom likes a school post (the girl likes all the school posts, so she probably found my mom's username there).
What do you guys think?
