What's wrong with Instagram today? Users are reporting that Instagram is being "freaky" amid a widespread inappropriate content glitch.

The glitch happened late Wednesday night and has apparently continued into this morning. Shock reactions and memes are surfacing across Twitter / X and TikTok as people who've been affected are trying to share their trauma with others.

So, what's happening with Instagram? Was Instagram hacked? Let's explain.

Why Is Instagram Freaky Today?

Late last night, X users and TikTokers took to social media to find out if anyone else was seeing weird, explicit stuff on their Instagram feed. For instance, one of the first reactions was from X user @meriesofyee, whose post about the glitch amassed over 14 million views in less than a day.

Others on TikTok have blamed Instagam's most recent update for the fiasco. It's simple "cause and effect" thinking, as people who updated the app and reported their Explore pages went haywire, showing them graphic videos and photos that should have otherwise been auto-detected and auto-deleted by the algorithm or moderators.

@okayyy.tiara THESE INAPPROPRIATE VIDS KEEP POPING UP?!? AND IM NOT EVEN FOLLOWING THEM?!? #instagram #fyp #foryoupage #foryou ♬ original sound – Ryu

@jennettemccvrdy #fyp ♬ original sound – GymFailNation

So far, there's been no official statement from Instagram about the widely corroborated glitch. Also over the past 24 hours, a global Microsoft outage caused by the program CrowdStrike has crashed and essentially disabled many computers worldwide.

Perhaps that has something to do with Instagram's moderation lapse? It's all speculation at this point.




Was Instagram Hacked?

As stated, as of right now, there's been no official statement from Instagram about the event. An Instagram hack is not off the table but, using Occam's razor, it's not likely.

The Instagram glitch probably has something to do with bot accounts that are spamming and engaging with graphic content. If so, it could be a hacker or an internal technical difficulty.

me opening instagram and immediately getting flashed pic.twitter.com/enQsOsFHH3

— avery (@averyseesmovies) July 19, 2024

What Are Some Reactions To The Instagram Inappropriate Content Glitch?

Many of the reactions to the glitch have been negative because people were jumpscared by the videos and photos that they don't normally expect to see on the normally SFW Instagram.

When people want to see adult stuff, they predominantly turn to Twitter / X, Reddit or other sites that allow such content. Instagram is known to be a safe space where the Zucc's moderation is notoriously strict.

What's highly interesting about the reactions so far is the phenomenon of people automatically using the word "𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂" to describe the bungle. So-called "𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 memes" have saturated meme discourse this year, seemingly becoming the go-to word for describing not-safe-for-work content.

@p7inkiepi3 LIKE IS THIS HAPPENING TO EVB ELSE??? #fyp #instagram ♬ huawei ringtone – Penguin

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For the full history of 2024 Instagram Inappropriate Content Glitch, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's entry for even more information.