by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

Instagram, the digital photo filter app best known for making your lunch appear more appetizing than it really is, is under scrutiny by the NCAA.

Really.

In an education column on the NCAA’s website posted Wednesday, the organization explains that coaches are not allowed to use Instagram before sending a photo to a recruit. Here’s the excerpt:

Question: May a coach take a photo and use software (e.g., Instagram, Photoshop, Camera Awesome, Camera+,) to enhance the content of the photo (e.g., changed color of photo to sepia tones or add content to the photograph), and send it to a prospective student-athlete as an attachment it to an email or direct social media message?

Answer: No, a photograph that has been altered or staged for a recruiting purpose cannot be sent to a prospective student-athlete.

Using an Instagram filter is different than doctoring a photo to make it look like a recruit was wearing a certain team uniform, or something of that nature. It’s changing the lighting. It’s why we use it to take and share photos of our delicious home-cooked meals with friends (because we may not be good cooks, but everything looks tastier with the “earlybird” filter.)

The NCAA still leaves some unanswered questions related to Instagram use. How does this give one coach a recruiting advantage over another? What if a coach uses the app to take the photo but doesn’t apply a filter — is that kosher? And what if a coach posts a photo from Instagram onto his Twitter feed, like Kentucky coach John Calipari does? Is that OK because it’s not sent directly to a recruit?

So many questions. So many filters. So little time.

(Thanks, John Infante for the tip.)

… [For more on NCAA bans coaches from using Instagram for recruiting, click here.]