The CIA Plans To Launch Its Own Official Instagram Account

The Central Intelligence Agency plans to launch its own presence on Instagram, the intelligence service revealed late last week. The agency hasn't provided many details about its plans for the upcoming Instagram account, but the new presence will join the CIA's existing Twitter account. Instagram has released a statement on the plan, revealing that it assisted the CIA with this launch.

Though the CIA likely spends a lot of time browsing Instagram, it doesn't yet have an official presence on the social media platform. That will change soon according to CIA Director Gina Haspel, who revealed plans to open an Instagram account during a speech at the University of Auburn.

In a comment to The Verge on the upcoming presence, Instagram confirmed that it not only knew about the CIA's plan, but has been assisting the agency in creating the account. "Our team worked with the CIA, as they do with many partners, to provide best practices and guidance..." the spokesperson explained.

Following Haspel's comment about the upcoming Instagram account launch, a number of people have scoured the platform to see if the page is live yet. One account has been discovered with the name "central.intelligence.agency.us," as well as random code in the description, a link to the CIA.gov website, and the phrase, "Official Account of the CIA." It's unclear whether that's a placeholder for the actual account.

A government agency's presence on a social media website isn't unusual. The Central Intelligence Agency already has a Twitter account, where it mostly shares bits of news related to the agency, public events, history, and other similar content. The FBI is also on Twitter and has already launched its own Instagram account.