Overview

The February 26th Instagram Reels Graphic Content Incident refers to a viral controversy in which numerous internet users on sites like Reddit, X / Twitter and TikTok began reporting that they were receiving multiple graphic videos or sensitive warnings on their Instagram Reels on February 26th, 2025, leading them to post questions and reaction videos asking, "What is wrong with Instagram Reels today?" The change in content came a month after Meta announced that it would be loosening its content moderation policies and coincided with a TikTok trend in which people joked about being backstabbed by their own friends on February 26th. The influx of shock videos and other graphic content on IG Reels led to massive backlash online in late February 2025, with Meta issuing an apology despite some still seeing the videos on February 27th after the company claimed it fixed the error.

Background

In a statement^[1] published on January 7th, 2025, Meta announced that it would change the way it enforces some of its content rules in order to reduce mistakes that had led to users being censored. The move coincided with Meta firing several of its fact-checkers and prompted discussions about how the content on apps like Instagram and Facebook might change following this policy change.^[2]

On February 26th, several internet users then reported receiving an influx of violent and graphic content on their Instagram Reels.

For example, Twitter / X^[3] user @DainielzChill made a post on February 26th, 2025, asking, "Bro what is happening on Instagram reels rn. I saw about 24 people getting killed in the span of 6 minutes😭🙏." The post gathered over 1,000 likes in a day.

Also on February 26th, Redditor^[4] /u/TheVegiePresident posted to the subreddit /r/PlayboiCarti asking, "What the fuck is happening on ig reels today? I swear, every reel for the past few hours is straight up from live leak." The post gathered over 2,000 upvotes in a day.

Developments

On February 27th, 2025, Meta issued a statement to news agencies reporting that it had resolved an "error" that flooded the personal Reels feeds of Instagram users with violent and graphic videos worldwide.

"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 spokesperson for Meta said.^[5][6]

Online Reactions

Several internet users reacted to seeing an unusual influx of violent content on an app previously known for its strict censorship policies.

On February 26th, 2025, Redditor /u/harrysofgaming posted to the subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions^[7] asking, "WTF is going on with Instagram reels / The NSFL content is getting out of hand. Anybody else experiencing this?" while gathering responses from other Redditors who saw the change as a Meta "experiment" following the company's content policy changes.

Also on February 26th, TikToker^[8] @_vale.ponzio_ posted a screen recording of them scrolling through their Reels feed and encountering videos covered by graphic content warnings. The post gathered over 300,000 plays and 3,000 likes in a day.

Later on February 26th, TikToker^[9] @donelij posted a video that read, "pov: mrs scrolling on ig reels today seeing their feed slowly become gOr3/ mvrd3rs & it progressively gets worse the more u scroll," gathering over 100,000 plays and 17,000 likes in a day.

Search Interest

External References