In a move that might have gone unnoticed by most users, Instagram has surreptitiously made a change to user profiles. More specifically, blocking links in the profile description to other apps like Telegram and Snapchat. It was the former that spotted the change earlier in the week, confirming the alteration via Twitter.

Another @Facebook tentacle closes on users' ability to share a link to their Telegram profile. #hypocrisy pic.twitter.com/xC6ydp3M0p

— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) 2 March 2016

For now, it only appears as if those two social media platforms are affected by the change, according to The Verge. The website has also informed its readers that they can still share links to both Telegram and Snapchat in their Twitter profiles, should they feel slighted by this recent development.

It is however important to note that it is not all Instagram profiles that feature links in their profiles are affected, but rather those that are specifically designed to quickly allow users to follow other social media platforms, termed 'add-me' links. Those users trying to click on one such link will receive the following message, "links asking someone to add you on another service aren't supported on Instagram."  

TechCrunch pushed Instagram to comment on the change, and an unknown spokesperson provided the following response. "We’ve removed the ability to include ‘add me’ links on Instagram profile pages. This was a rare use-case, and not the way our platform was intended to be used. Other types of links are still allowed."