By Mashable | Created at 2025-02-27 19:30:09 | Updated at 2025-03-10 11:05:41
1 week ago
The "error" has been fixed.
Meta showed NSFW content to users. Credit: Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Among massive shifts in Meta's policies, the company said on Thursday that it fixed an error that resulted in a flood of violent and graphic content on some users' Instagram Reels pages.
"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," a Meta spokesperson told CNBC.
The aforementioned content, according to one Reddit user, was a stream of Reels videos "full of street fights, school shootings, murder, and gore accidents." Another user on Reddit described a feed that switched from "planes, watches, miniature painting, and cats" to "body horror and videos with descriptions in Russian."
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In a different Reddit post about Meta's apology, the comments section is flooded with posts blaming AI, Meta's recent layoffs, and misguided policy changes. One user commented, "Okay Meta but I saw a guy get executed." Another user said they were done with Instagram altogether after the platform's error. "I’m still not going back after their 'mistake' decided to show me child p*rn as soon as I opened the app. Never again."
While Meta allows some graphic content on its site, its guidelines say it protects users from prohibited content like "videos depicting dismemberment, visible innards or charred bodies" and "imagery depicting the suffering of humans and animals."
This comes just a few weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg eliminated fact-checkers in favor of community notes, lifted prohibitions on certain forms of hate speech, scrapped DEI initiatives, removed trans-inclusive features from its apps, and reinstated political content recommendations. As CNBC pointed out, in 2022 and 2023, Meta cut 21,000 employees, many of which were part of its civic integrity and trust and safety teams.
Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.
Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.
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