Meta Apologizes for Recommending Violent Content to Instagram Users

Meta has apologized after violent videos showing people being killed or badly injured were recommended to Instagram users yesterday (Wednesday).

The videos were being pushed under the Reels tab with users reporting they saw footage of people being shot to death and run over by vehicles. The Wall Street Journal reports that one of their journalists saw people being mangled by machines. The accounts’ names included “BlackPeopleBeingHurt,” “ShockingTragedies”, and “PeopleDyingHub.”

Some of the videos received millions of views but Instagram has declined to reveal the full scale of the issue. “We have fixed an error that caused some users to see content in their Instagram Reels feed that should not have been recommended,” an Instagram spokesman says. “We apologize for the mistake.”

Users reported seeing gory content even with Instagram’s “Sensitive Content Control” set to its highest moderation setting. While most violent videos depicting extreme violence is barred on the Meta platform, some graphic content is allowed if it raises awareness about important issues like human rights abuses or armed conflicts. Such content will be given warning labels.

Meta denied that the influx of NSFW content has anything to do with its recent decision to get rid of content moderators and replace them with an X-style Community Notes system.

Back in January, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that he intends to dial back the sensitive content filters across Instagram, Facebook, and Threads, therefore reducing the amount of censorship. Zuckerberg acknowledged that the new policy means the company will “catch less bad stuff”, but the trade-off is that it will also “reduce the number of innocent people’s posts and accounts that we accidentally take down.”

The switchup in moderation policies were widely seen as an attempt to curry favor with new President Donald Trump who was previously kicked off Meta platforms in the wake of the January 6 riots.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.