Called out a food blogger for using stock photos instead of her own meals and got blocked within 10 minutes

I commented on her "homemade" lasagna post pointing out the exact stock photo site watermark in the corner, and she deleted my comment then banned me, but the image is still up and getting 12k likes as of yesterday - has anyone else noticed how many food accounts pull this trick?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugotaylor6d ago

That watermark thing is exactly how I caught a "baking influencer" last year. Take screenshots of everything before you call them out - name, timestamp, the whole post. Report the image directly to the platform as deceptive content too, not just a comment complaint. A lot of these accounts will swap out the photo once they get enough reports on the actual image file. Also check if they're using a service like TinEye to hide their tracks, some of them batch download stock photos and just crop out the watermarks. The block is annoying but at least you know they're paying attention. Keep an eye on that post, they usually delete it quietly after a few days when the heat gets too high.

brookeellis6d ago

My neighbor does food blogging and she says most people just screenshot the finished product without checking the source, which is why these accounts get away with it for so long. Honestly, if the food looks good enough and they're not hurting anyone, I'm not sure the internet sleuthing is worth the time.

keith2746d ago

Oh yeah, screenshot everything is solid advice. I always grab a full-page capture too with the URL visible just in case they try to delete and repost. For TinEye, sometimes running their profile pic through it reveals recycled content from other accounts too. You ever had one of these accounts actually come back with a new name after getting called out?