Instagram users worldwide were flooded with violent and graphic content yesterday, in what Meta said was an ‘error’.
Users began reporting the ‘gory’ and ‘NSFW’ content, typically filtered out by the platform’s algorithm, yesterday.
Many said they don’t engage with such content or have their sensitive content control settings switched on, which limits ‘offensive’ posts.
The influx of content was largely tagged as ‘Sensitive Content’, so not immediately visible to users unless they clicked to view it.
Some users shared videos of them scrolling through their recommended Reels and Explore page, showing feeds rammed with ‘Sensitive Content’ warnings.
Suggested posts included footage of people being mangled by machinery, being thrown out of amusement park rides and one of a pile of bodies after a power line fell atop a pre-Carnival street parade in rural Brazil in 2011.
A user commented on the carnival post: ‘Every two reels are either someone getting shot, a brutal fight, dead body dead body dead body!! I’ve even seen a cartel video ..like maan wtf is going on Instagram!!’
Another added: ‘Every scroll today is either brutal fighting or people dying lol.’
Other suggested Reels, according to X users, included a video of what appeared to be a camel chained by their neck in a room covered in blood and CCTV footage of a shooting in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 2022 and
‘We will forever remember today as dark web day on Instagram,’ a user commented on the post of the shooting, which saw two men killed inside a bar in Fátima, local media said at the time.
One was a post uploaded by an account with only one follower showing someone breaking into a bathroom and beating someone up, according to an X user, and another of a man seemingly being hacked with an axe.
Many of the posts racked up millions more views than the content creator usually sees.
A Meta spokesperson said: ‘We have fixed an error that caused some users to see content in their Instagram Reels feed that should not have been recommended.
‘We apologise for the mistake.’
The spokesperson stressed that the torrent of videos was unrelated to the company, which also owns Facebook and WhatsApp, relaxing its moderation policies.
Meta policy states that prohibited content includes videos ‘depicting dismemberment, visible innards or charred bodies’, as well as ‘sadistic remarks towards imagery depicting the suffering of humans and animals’.
Such content is allowed, however, if it raises awareness about issues such as human rights violations or conflicts.
Meta uses internal technology such as AI and a team of some 15,000 moderators to detect disturbing material.
Instagram covers posts with a content warning if it does not go against the platform’s community guidelines ‘but may contain images that some people might find upsetting’.
‘We cover graphic content so people can choose whether to see it,’ the warnings add.
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