bunch more stars, including Judd Apatow and Julianne Moore, for sharing the message in a Twitter thread.

One person who had not deleted the hoax by Wednesday morning was Rick Perry, who serves as the energy secretary in the Trump administration. "Feel free to repost!! #nothanksinstagram," Perry wrote to his 25,000 followers. Perry's main responsibility is making sure the country's nuclear arsenal and power plants are secure.

Both the BuzzFeed tech reporter Ryan Mac and the New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac were among those who pointed out Perry's role overseeing America's nuclear program.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, debunked the viral message on Twitter on Tuesday. "If you're seeing a meme claiming Instagram is changing its rules tomorrow, it's not true," he said.

The timing of the hoax isnot ideal for Facebook, as Instagram's parent company is working to win back the trust of users after a sequence of high-profile privacy scandals. It's easy to see why Instagram would prefer it if household names were not spreading misinformation suggesting it was exploiting people's private photos and messages.

One star who did spot the hoax was the comedian Trevor Noah, who posted a meme mocking the fake message. "Be safe my friends. The new Instagram law is coming now!" he joked.

Be safe my friends. The new Instagram law is coming now! A post shared by Trevor Noah (@trevornoah) on Aug 20, 2019 at 3:55pm PDT Aug 20, 2019 at 3:55pm PDT

This article has been updated.