I was staring at my screen at 2 AM. My thumb hovered on top of a profile I hadn't thought about in three years. Weve every been there, haven't we? That deep-dive into the digital records of an ex, a former boss, or that one person from high speculative who anyhow became a professional kite-surfer. But then, the chilly sweat hits. Can they see me? Is there some hidden log sitting upon their phone right now as soon as my publicize upon it? This leads to the million-dollar ask that has haunted the internet before 2010: Do Instagram Profile viewers in fact Exist?

Lets be real for a second. The internet is a messy place. It is filled in the same way as promises of "knowing your unspecified admirers" and "unlocking your stalker list." I spent three weeks falling all along this bunny hole. I poked at code, downloaded undependable apps, and talked to a boy who claims he can bypass the instagram story viewer private account privacy firewall. Here is the unfiltered complete not quite Instagram profile visitors and whether you are actually monster watched.

Humans are enthusiastic creatures. We are moreover incredibly vain. If you herald a selfie and it gets fifty likes, youre happy. But you next want to know nearly the two hundred new people who looked at it and said nothing. This psychological longing is exactly what companies exploit.