Anomalous Instagram Accounts: A Phenomenological Study of Digital Ethics and Citizenship

Abstract

This study explores how Instagram users experience and interpret accounts they perceive as anomalous, and what these experiences mean for trust, accountability, and ethical responsibility as dimensions of digital citizenship. The study examines perceived anomalous accounts; it does not verify whether those accounts are bots, fake accounts, or deliberately manipulative.

A qualitative phenomenological design (Moustakas, 1994) was used with 10 purposively selected active Instagram users aged 18–25 in South Tangerang, Indonesia (P1–P10), all of whom had encountered accounts they perceived as suspicious or inauthentic. Data were collected through semi-structured online interviews (March–May 2026), digital observation of public posts, and documentation. Analysis followed bracketing, horizonalization, thematic clustering, and textural-structural description. Credibility was supported by triangulation and member checking.

Four themes were identified: (1) perceived inauthenticity of identity, (2) an eroded sense of security and trust, (3) perceived erosion of communication ethics, especially accountability, and (4) critical verification practices and a shared view of moral responsibility. The essence of the experience was a loss of certainty about who the other party is in digital interaction.

From participants’ perspective, perceived anomalous accounts are an ethical as well as a technical matter. The findings tentatively extend the digital citizenship dimensions of digital etiquette, digital rights and responsibilities, and digital security by foregrounding accountable identity. They describe the perceptions of 10 participants and do not support causal claims about the effects of anomalous accounts or conclusions about account operators’ intentions.