The unexpected chaos erupted on Instagram Reels as Meta Platforms revealed on Thursday that they had finally resolved an error that inundated the personal Reels feeds of Instagram users across the globe with violent and graphic videos. The extent of the impact of this glitch on users remains unclear, although Meta’s response came in the wake of a slew of complaints on various social media platforms about the alarming presence of violent and “not safe for work” content in Reels feeds. This was despite some users having activated the “sensitive content control” setting, which was supposed to filter out such material.
A spokesperson for Meta issued a statement acknowledging the error and expressing regret for the mishap. They mentioned, “We have fixed an error that caused some users to see content in their Instagram Reels feed that should not have been recommended. We apologize for the mistake.” However, the specific cause behind this error was not disclosed by Meta.
Meta’s content moderation policies have faced scrutiny, particularly after their recent decision to discontinue the U.S. fact-checking program on major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, which collectively cater to over 3 billion users globally. Despite prohibiting violent and graphic videos, the company typically removes such content to ensure user safety, with certain exceptions made for videos that raise awareness on issues such as human rights abuses and conflicts.
In recent times, Meta has increasingly relied on automated moderation tools, a trend that is expected to intensify following the pivot away from fact-checking in the U.S. The company has been criticized for its perceived failure to strike a proper balance between content recommendations and user safety. Instances of this imbalance have been highlighted in incidents like the dissemination of violent content during the Myanmar genocide, Instagram’s inadvertent promotion of eating disorder content to teenagers, and the spread of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report was compiled by Surbhi Misra and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru, with editorial contributions made by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty.
