--- title: "Instagram Apologizes for Showing Stream of Horrific Real-Life Murders in Users’ Feeds" description: "Meta issued an apology after Instagram users' feeds were suddenly flooded with videos gore, murders, and other upsetting content." date: "2025-03-01" modified: "2025-03-01" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/instagram-apologizes-murders-feeds" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "instagram" - "Meta" - "social media" - "the digest" --- # Instagram Apologizes for Showing Stream of Horrific Real-Life Murders in Users’ Feeds ![Meta issued an apology after Instagram users' feeds were suddenly flooded with videos gore, murders, and other upsetting content.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Instagram: it's where people go to get their daily dose of memes and thirst traps, having long given up on it as a way of actually interacting with other human beings. But the vibes spectacularly blew up in everyone's faces this week, when a change to the platform left users chilled to the bone. On Wednesday, Meta issued an apology for an "error" that led to many Instagram feeds suddenly being flooded with gore, animal abuse, dead bodies, and videos of real-life murders — triggering an outpouring of shocked complaints online. "We have fixed an error that caused some users to see content in their Instagram Reels feed that should not have been recommended," a Meta spokesperson [told *404 Media*]() in a statement. "We apologize for the mistake." Although Meta recently announced that it would be [loosening some of its content moderation policies](), the Mark Zuckerberg-led company insisted that the error was unrelated, according to *404*. The sheer number of complaints suggests that the hapless "error" was widespread. "Instagram is now 100% gore," reads the [top voted post]() this month in the r/Instagram subreddit. The comments on the gruesome videos being shown, *404* found, were filled with complaints from baffled users who didn't understand why the content was intruding into their feeds. "I had never seen someone being eaten by a shark, followed by someone getting killed by a car crash, followed by someone getting shot," a *404* reader, whose feed was "typically dogs and bikes," told the website. Here's some of what *404* found after being allowed access to the reader's account: a video of an elephant "flattening a man" after repeatedly stomping on him; a video showing a motorcyclist going up to a pedestrian and shooting them in the head; and multiple videos from an account called "PeopleDeadDaily." You get the grisly picture. In light of that, it's easy to understand why some users found the experience virtually traumatizing. "I feel like I lost some humanity today when I exposed myself to seeing so many of those types of videos," [wrote one user]() on Reddit. "I can't sleep when my mind replays those videos." Instagram and Facebook have long been inundated with horrific content — to such an extent that their moderators, who are often low-paid overseas contractors, [have sued Meta]() for [developing PTSD on the job](). It's striking, however, to see it all bubble to the surface so quickly. It's also an unnerving reminder of just how much these social media companies dictate what we see and feel — and how that fragile balance can easily be upset. **More on social media:** *[Pinterest Is Being Strangled by AI Slop]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()