Louis Tomlinson has reportedly banned the word "Larry" from his Instagram page to prevent fans from referencing his fictional romance with his One Direction bandmate Harry Styles.

The nickname was coined by devotees who penned fan fiction stories about a secret relationship between the pair, but it appears Louis has tired of the constant comments about "Larry", and now he has made use of Instagram's new anti-trolling tool by blocking the name completely.

According to E! News, fans can still post a comment on Louis' photos containing the word Larry, but it will no longer appear publicly.

However, the 24-year-old's efforts to curb the unwanted chatter have backfired, as soon after the news surfaced, other social media users flooded his page with creative ways to spell out the same word to get around the ban.

Instagram trolls instead posted comments about "Houis" and "L a r r y", while one wrote, "Lol (laugh out loud) you can try to run away from lar-ry, but remember, you'll always be part of it."

"L(arry)ove," teased another fan.

Louis, who is currently dating actress Danielle Campbell, has yet to comment on the Instagram backlash, but he previously made it clear he did not find the fake "Larry" romance rumours funny at all.

Responding to a fan's Twitter post back in 2012, the singer, who shares a baby son named Freddie with ex-girlfriend Briana Jungwirth, retorted, "Hows (sic) this , Larry is the biggest load of bulls**t I've ever heard. I'm happy why can't you accept that."

Louis isn't the only One Direction star to face social media troubles this week (begs12Sep16) - Niall Horan had his Instagram page hacked on Tuesday (13Sep16), but he was able to regain control of his photo-sharing blog shortly after the attack.