--- title: Selena Gomez Instagram Goes Private and Fans React description: Selena Gomez's fans were surprised to find that Instagram's most popular celebrity switched her account settings to private. canonical: https://time.com/5050179/selena-gomez-instagram-private/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-05T19:36:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:34:10.261Z og:title: Selena Gomez Just Switched Her Instagram Settings to Private og:description: The singer's updates are no longer visible to her 130 million followers og:url: https://time.com/5050179/selena-gomez-instagram-private/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f7230b1d7eccb28/6988f3d7e76ad2aad863031b/gettyimages-886101586.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3215 og:image:height: 1808 og:image:alt: The Fashion Awards 2017 In Partnership With Swarovski - Red Carpet Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Selena Gomez Just Switched Her Instagram Settings to Private twitter:description: The singer's updates are no longer visible to her 130 million followers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f7230b1d7eccb28/6988f3d7e76ad2aad863031b/gettyimages-886101586.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Instagram's Most Popular Celebrity Selena Gomez Just Switched Her Settings to Private > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=86df96bc-faa7-4cc5-8e2e-eff8d07bc609&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: FIRSTS Selena Gomez [Watch (HLS stream): FIRSTS Selena Gomez](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jdSSgfy5.m3u8) (1:51)  _Published 2017-09-06. Selena Gomez is the FIRST person to reach 100 million followers on Instagram._ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Dec 5, 2017 7:36 PM UTC by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Dec 5, 2017 7:36 PM UTC Selena Gomez is known for being [an Instagram queen](http://time.com/collection/firsts/4899244/selena-gomez-firsts), but she may be taking a break. Fans noticed on early Tuesday morning that the actor and _Wolves_ singer’s page wasn’t public anymore. That’s no small matter for a celebrity who commands the attention of [130 million followers](http://time.com/4936487/selena-gomez-on-friends/). Notably, Gomez was the first person to reach [100 million followers](http://time.com/4512549/selena-gomez-instagram-100-million/) on the platform in 2016\. And this year, she had a whopping eight out of ten of the [most-liked photos on the platform this year](http://time.com/5040998/beyonce-instagram-2017/). With her most [popular post](http://time.com/4941186/selena-gomez-recovering-from-a-kidney-transplant/) of 2017, she announced she had undergone kidney transplant surgery as a result of lupus, making headlines worldwide. There’s no way of knowing if or when she’ll change her settings from private back to public or the reason behind the switch. But one thing is clear. She takes social media’s impact seriously. Speaking to TIME this year, she reflected on public life through the prism of social media. --- > “” --- A representative for Gomez did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ## Transcript People will look at you and they'll try to define you whether you're a woman whether you're young. They'll try and capon off what you are able to do, but people can only do that if you let them, and so I always viewed my job as defining myself. If we are in a meeting we're there for a reason, not to just sit there and absorb. If you are only there, not speaking, you kind of create the impression that you're not prepared to be there. You need to participate and you need to know what you're talking about. You can ask a man to do a job that he's never been qualified to do, and he will raise his hand and say, absolutely, I will do that job. Women always say, I'm not sure if I'm ready yet. I'm not Need more experience. I don't necessarily know if there's anything wrong with being more cautious and careful. I mean, why have we come to decide that being brash and overly aggressive should be the way we are? But we should also know that we're not going to feel any wiser or any more ready in ten years than we did ten years ago. So we might as well just leap. There is a lot of perception of my gosh, this is really hard because of the gender. What are you going to do about that? Just not do it? If you want to do something you just do it. Then, hope that people catch up to you. [ MUSIC ] For girls that are gonna be playing Little League, anything could happen. You could be up by ten runs and you can lose the game. So stay focused, make sure you play as a team. And hopefully, you hit a home run, cuz no girl's ever hit a home run. And I'll be cheering for you. You'll never make everyone happy. So you just have to be exactly who it is that you are and at least know that you've been true to yourself. It's about attitude, aptitude, and opportunity. Who knew I would be here? But it all started with folks that thought I had a good attitude. That put me in places that challenged me and then provided me opportunities because I met and exceeded the standard. You often realize, people want you to succeed, and they often have very good solutions, both practical and in terms of thinking of opportunities for you. And the other thing is, I think it's not too bad To have periods of great intensity doing one thing or the other. Meryl Streep once said, " Every successful woman's life has it's ebbs and flows ." Know your power. Know the power of your intellect, of your values and your committment, the courage you have, and don't let anybody trivialize How you have spent your years. All of them have contributed to making a very unique and special person. Just take joy. Don't let anyone discourage you from that thing that you love the most. It's more about making a life. Them making a living. That's what matters. 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