diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/849-ec2_instance-tagging-deprecate.yml b/changelogs/fragments/849-ec2_instance-tagging-deprecate.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..11212caf3d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/849-ec2_instance-tagging-deprecate.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+deprecated_features:
+- ec2_instance - the current default value of ``False`` for ``purge_tags`` has been deprecated and will be updated in release 5.0.0 to ``True`` (https://github.com/ansible-collections/amazon.aws/pull/849).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/ec2_instance.py b/plugins/modules/ec2_instance.py
index 81d0e86b087..2bc65d9a729 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/ec2_instance.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/ec2_instance.py
@@ -95,16 +95,6 @@
         description:
         - Host configuration secret key generated by the Tower job template.
         type: str
-  tags:
-    description:
-      - A hash/dictionary of tags to add to the new instance or to add/remove from an existing one.
-    type: dict
-  purge_tags:
-    description:
-      - Delete any tags not specified in the task that are on the instance.
-        This means you have to specify all the desired tags on each task affecting an instance.
-    default: false
-    type: bool
   image:
     description:
       - An image to use for the instance. The M(amazon.aws.ec2_ami_info) module may be used to retrieve images.
@@ -352,6 +342,7 @@
 extends_documentation_fragment:
 - amazon.aws.aws
 - amazon.aws.ec2
+- amazon.aws.tags.deprecated_purge
 
 '''
 
@@ -1789,11 +1780,18 @@ def determine_iam_role(name_or_arn):
 
 
 def handle_existing(existing_matches, state):
-    tags = dict(module.params.get('tags') or {})
+    tags = dict(module.params.get('tags', None))
+    purge_tags = module.params.get('purge_tags')
     name = module.params.get('name')
-    purge_tags = module.params.get('purge_tags', False)
+
+    # Name is a tag rather than a direct parameter, we need to inject 'Name'
+    # into tags, but since tags isn't explicitly passed we'll treat it not being
+    # set as purge_tags == False
     if name:
-        tags['Name'] = name
+        if purge_tags and tags is None:
+            purge_tags = False
+            tags = {}
+        tags.update({'Name': name})
 
     changed = False
     all_changes = list()
@@ -2004,8 +2002,8 @@ def main():
         security_group=dict(type='str'),
         instance_role=dict(type='str'),
         name=dict(type='str'),
-        tags=dict(type='dict'),
-        purge_tags=dict(type='bool', default=False),
+        tags=dict(type='dict', aliases=['resource_tags']),
+        purge_tags=dict(type='bool'),
         filters=dict(type='dict', default=None),
         launch_template=dict(type='dict'),
         key_name=dict(type='str'),
@@ -2048,6 +2046,14 @@ def main():
         supports_check_mode=True
     )
 
+    if module.params.get('purge_tags') is None:
+        module.deprecate(
+            'The purge_tags parameter currently defaults to False.'
+            ' For consistency across the collection, this default value'
+            ' will change to True in release 5.0.0.',
+            version='5.0.0', collection_name='amazon.aws')
+        module.params['purge_tags'] = False
+
     if not module.params.get('instance_type') and not module.params.get('launch_template') and module.params.get('state') != 'absent':
         module.deprecate("Default value instance_type has been deprecated, in the future you must set an instance_type or a launch_template",
                          date='2023-01-01', collection_name='amazon.aws')