Using Instagram’s Remix feature makes your content fair game for anyone to use. Is that what you want?
If you have a public account on Instagram, any of your posted videos or Reels are considered fair game to be remixed without permission. Important to note: The remix option in Settings is defaulted to ON (shame on you, Instagram!). A lot of people open an account and never think to make it private. Instagram capitolizes on this behavior to saturate IG social media with as much content as possible and to compete with TikTok’s Duet feature.
If you want to double-check your IG account to set it to private, that solves the Remix permissions and automatically removes the remix option. Phew! If you want your account public but do NOT want your video posts to be remixed with other random content and posted who knows where, here is how you turn that off:
1. Go to Settings
2. Tap Privacy
3. Tap Reels and Remix
4. Under Remix, in Allow Remixing, turn OFF ‘Allow for reels’ and ‘Allow for feed videos’. Note that this new feature is auto-defaulted to ON unless you make this change.
If you want your videos remixed, leave as is but user-beware—they can show up anywhere and be used completely out of context without your permission. Remember, leaving the remix to ON means your videos can be used by anyone, anywhere.
Coming soon to a phone near you: remix for static photos. It’s already here and starting to show up as Instagram does a slow roll-out. Watermark those photos and put a (c) All Photos Copyrighted in your Instagram Bio for a small level of protection but…it’s Meta…watch out. Same settings will apply so check your account to see when you are offered the feature and turn them OFF.