4 ms·

Instagram 'Error' Turned Reels into Scroll of Murder, Gore, and Violence

75 points by danso 2y ago

paulsutter 2y ago
[flagged]
- qwertox 2y ago
  They are verbatim from the page's title.
- philosopher1234 2y ago
  I think we intend awful things all the time, without realizing it. To get at what the intentions are here you might ask things like: * why this particular error and no other? The bug could’ve been that the content becomes particularly happy or cheery * why a bug in the content at all? You don’t see bugs generally on Instagram, they are immensely careful about operations. How could something like this slip through? (Why are safeguards not prioritized)
- woodruffw 2y ago
  Scare quotes often reflect derision; they don't necessarily imply intention. I think in TFA's case they're suggesting that Instagram is downplaying the incident, since calling it an "error" puts in the same category as a service outage.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - jkoebler 2y ago
    I wrote this article. The quote is in the headline because Instagram is calling it an error, I am not calling it an error. People have been wondering what happened and why, and have been posting on Reddit wondering why there’s no media attention. It’s a small signal, but I put the quote around “error” to indicate that I did some reporting and got official word from Meta about what happened, and was not just speculating.
- micromacrofoot 2y ago
  The scare quotes don't suggest that it was deliberate, it's quoting instagram's response to highlight how ridiculous it is to call showing thousands of people gore a simple "error." They're dramatically minimizing the problem. It seems like a fair callout to me, especially because instagram has made this "error" before at least one other time.
- croes 2y ago
  Was it allowed content? If not why did it still exist, so the error could show it?
cossatot 2y ago
This seems to have happened on 26 Feb 2023 as well: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/26/instageam-reels-violent-videos-memes/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/26/instage...
- drcongo 2y ago
  Weirdly close date too.
- whycome 2y ago
  The date must be cursed? Is there anything weird about the numbers? Y2K, 2038, and 0226?
wkat4242 2y ago
Why is this content on the servers after being moderated??
- micromacrofoot 2y ago
  it's not moderated off the platform, just given sensitive content warnings — this content is all over instagram if you look for it
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    Ugh. I didn't know that. They should moderate that away. I have no issue with erotic content at all (for which they do actually ban people!) but all this cruelty and violence has no place there.
    - bathtub365 2y ago
      All Meta cares about is engagement and they have a history of turning a blind eye to all kinds of bad behaviour across all of their platforms. The only way that changes is if it loses them money, which it clearly doesn’t. It’s highly unlikely that they’ll change so it may be worth reconsidering continuing to support a company that clearly doesn’t share your values and enables and monetizes the posting of horrific content.
      - wkat4242 2y ago
        Hmm yeah but then they wouldn't be so anal (pun intended) about erotic content. If anything is engaging it's that. Several people I know have been banned 4 or 5 times (they've taken to just increasing a number after their account name)
        micromacrofoot 2y ago
        they only ban porn because apple won't let apps with a significant amount of porn in the app store
ge96 2y ago
There is something grounding about seeing gore, it doesn't feel real. My own opinion of life, living in a state of "this, then this, then this" not really in the moment. We forget about how fragile our bodies are. It's better not to be in fear of bad things like accidents/murder but yeah still good to keep in mind how life isn't so bad. When you see cartel videos for example damn. It's that thing out of sight out of mind. Edit: makes me think of gated communities too keep the bad out. I'm not an anti-rich person but yeah good to have empathy. There's also so many people in the world can't help em all.
- bluSCALE4 2y ago
  I watched a lot of gore videos in my pre-teen years and it's definitely good and bad. I don't regret it but I also have zero appetite for it now. I know a few people that still have a morbid curiosity for it but not for me. If it did ground once, it doesn't illicit anything positive anymore.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
whalesalad 2y ago
I was wondering why virtually every single reel last night was people in a fist fight. Men versus men, women versus women, people getting concussed in a parking lot. Guess it wasn't just a coincidence.
johnecheck 2y ago
Gross. Yet another indicator that forcing a single closed-source algorithm is bad for users.
wruza 2y ago
That’s one of the reasons I watched these before, just to know what the world can be and to not lose sleep over it when accidentally exposed. We are living in a very thin layer of normalness under which is the abyss of murder, gore and violence. And sometimes this normalness was based/achieved through it. Ignoring it is in my opinion partially the source of the world’s problems. Because “X is poor and underdeveloped” and “A is at war with B” sounds less problematic and more abstract than a pile of dead bodies or someone lying on the road without a face, right before your eyes.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
idrathernot 2y ago
I had multiple videos popping up in my feed of people dying in various accidents yesterday. Honestly people deserve more of an explanation than “oopsie”. That type of stuff is traumatizing.

75 points by danso 2y ago

paulsutter 2y ago

[flagged]

qwertox 2y ago
They are verbatim from the page's title.
philosopher1234 2y ago
I think we intend awful things all the time, without realizing it. To get at what the intentions are here you might ask things like: * why this particular error and no other? The bug could’ve been that the content becomes particularly happy or cheery * why a bug in the content at all? You don’t see bugs generally on Instagram, they are immensely careful about operations. How could something like this slip through? (Why are safeguards not prioritized)
woodruffw 2y ago
Scare quotes often reflect derision; they don't necessarily imply intention. I think in TFA's case they're suggesting that Instagram is downplaying the incident, since calling it an "error" puts in the same category as a service outage.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- jkoebler 2y ago
  I wrote this article. The quote is in the headline because Instagram is calling it an error, I am not calling it an error. People have been wondering what happened and why, and have been posting on Reddit wondering why there’s no media attention. It’s a small signal, but I put the quote around “error” to indicate that I did some reporting and got official word from Meta about what happened, and was not just speculating.
micromacrofoot 2y ago
The scare quotes don't suggest that it was deliberate, it's quoting instagram's response to highlight how ridiculous it is to call showing thousands of people gore a simple "error." They're dramatically minimizing the problem. It seems like a fair callout to me, especially because instagram has made this "error" before at least one other time.
croes 2y ago
Was it allowed content? If not why did it still exist, so the error could show it?

cossatot 2y ago

This seems to have happened on 26 Feb 2023 as well: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/26/instageam-reels-violent-videos-memes/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/26/instage...

drcongo 2y ago
Weirdly close date too.
whycome 2y ago
The date must be cursed? Is there anything weird about the numbers? Y2K, 2038, and 0226?

wkat4242 2y ago

Why is this content on the servers after being moderated??

micromacrofoot 2y ago
it's not moderated off the platform, just given sensitive content warnings — this content is all over instagram if you look for it
- wkat4242 2y ago
  Ugh. I didn't know that. They should moderate that away. I have no issue with erotic content at all (for which they do actually ban people!) but all this cruelty and violence has no place there.
  - bathtub365 2y ago
    All Meta cares about is engagement and they have a history of turning a blind eye to all kinds of bad behaviour across all of their platforms. The only way that changes is if it loses them money, which it clearly doesn’t. It’s highly unlikely that they’ll change so it may be worth reconsidering continuing to support a company that clearly doesn’t share your values and enables and monetizes the posting of horrific content.
    - wkat4242 2y ago
      Hmm yeah but then they wouldn't be so anal (pun intended) about erotic content. If anything is engaging it's that. Several people I know have been banned 4 or 5 times (they've taken to just increasing a number after their account name)
      - micromacrofoot 2y ago
        they only ban porn because apple won't let apps with a significant amount of porn in the app store

ge96 2y ago

There is something grounding about seeing gore, it doesn't feel real. My own opinion of life, living in a state of "this, then this, then this" not really in the moment. We forget about how fragile our bodies are. It's better not to be in fear of bad things like accidents/murder but yeah still good to keep in mind how life isn't so bad. When you see cartel videos for example damn. It's that thing out of sight out of mind. Edit: makes me think of gated communities too keep the bad out. I'm not an anti-rich person but yeah good to have empathy. There's also so many people in the world can't help em all.

bluSCALE4 2y ago
I watched a lot of gore videos in my pre-teen years and it's definitely good and bad. I don't regret it but I also have zero appetite for it now. I know a few people that still have a morbid curiosity for it but not for me. If it did ground once, it doesn't illicit anything positive anymore.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

whalesalad 2y ago

I was wondering why virtually every single reel last night was people in a fist fight. Men versus men, women versus women, people getting concussed in a parking lot. Guess it wasn't just a coincidence.

johnecheck 2y ago

Gross. Yet another indicator that forcing a single closed-source algorithm is bad for users.

wruza 2y ago

That’s one of the reasons I watched these before, just to know what the world can be and to not lose sleep over it when accidentally exposed. We are living in a very thin layer of normalness under which is the abyss of murder, gore and violence. And sometimes this normalness was based/achieved through it. Ignoring it is in my opinion partially the source of the world’s problems. Because “X is poor and underdeveloped” and “A is at war with B” sounds less problematic and more abstract than a pile of dead bodies or someone lying on the road without a face, right before your eyes.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

idrathernot 2y ago

I had multiple videos popping up in my feed of people dying in various accidents yesterday. Honestly people deserve more of an explanation than “oopsie”. That type of stuff is traumatizing.