For some reason or the other, it feels like Instagram doesn’t really like links or users leaving its platform. Right now, the only clickable links are the ones in your bio, and links pasted in the comments can’t be clicked or copied at all. The next best thing would be in your Instagram Stories, where only some users have the option to create a link in their Stories that you need to swipe up to access.
That being said, as some of you might recall, a couple of months ago, Instagram revealed that they would be testing out allowing users to place links in Stories in the form of stickers, and it looks like that change will be coming soon. This is according to YouTuber Sam Sheffer who got a message from Instagram informing him about the change.
According to the message he received, “Starting August 30, swipe up links will go away. To add a link to your story, use the new link sticker.” Note that this won’t be in addition to the swipe up gesture, but it will be replacing the swipe up gesture completely.
In a way it’s not a bad idea because this might make it more obvious for users where they need to click. It also means that users will now be able to respond to an Instagram Story where before, Stories with the swipe up gesture could not be responded to.