Instagram: Difference between revisions

Instagram already had a "photo map" feature in its early years, which was removed in 2016.<ref>2016-09-09, [https://thinkmarketingmagazine.com/instagram-killing-photo-maps-feature/ Instagram killing “photo maps” feature] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260130202048/https://thinkmarketingmagazine.com/instagram-killing-photo-maps-feature/ Archived])</ref>

In what Instagram calls an "error", some users were shown videos of graphic death scenes and animal abuse in their Reels feed for about a day.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Milmo |first=Dan |date=2025-02-28 |title=Meta apologises over flood of gore, violence and dead bodies on Instagram |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/28/meta-apologises-over-flood-of-gore-violence-and-dead-bodies-on-instagram |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250301002132/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/28/meta-apologises-over-flood-of-gore-violence-and-dead-bodies-on-instagram |archive-date=2025-03-01 |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Duffy |first=Clare |date=February 27, 2025 |title=Meta apologizes, fixes glitch that caused violent video recommendations on Reels |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/27/tech/meta-apologizes-glitch-violent-reels |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251103212649/https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/27/tech/meta-apologizes-glitch-violent-reels |archive-date=3 Nov 2025 |work=CNN}}</ref>

This also serves as an example for the kind of content Meta staff has to review when flagged and raises questions about the mental health impact watching this type of content all day has on the workers tasked with content moderation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Llach |first=Laura |date=19 Oct 2023 |title=‘It scars you for life’: Workers sue Meta claiming viewing brutal videos caused psychological trauma |url=https://www.euronews.com/2023/10/19/it-scars-you-for-life-workers-sue-meta-claiming-viewing-brutal-videos-caused-psychological |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250823162227/https://www.euronews.com/2023/10/19/it-scars-you-for-life-workers-sue-meta-claiming-viewing-brutal-videos-caused-psychological |archive-date=23 Aug 2025 |work=Euro News}}</ref>

Some users reported their camera being accessed while they were not using a feature of the app that ordinarily involves taking pictures or videos. This was revealed by a new indicator in iOS 14 and the same thing was repeated when Android 12 introduced a similar indicator.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why does Instagram use my camera whenever i exit the app? |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidQuestions/comments/s85mv2/why_does_instagram_use_my_camera_whenever_i_exit/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=[[Reddit]] |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220120004950/https://old.reddit.com/r/AndroidQuestions/comments/s85mv2/why_does_instagram_use_my_camera_whenever_i_exit/ |archive-date=20 Jan 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=30 Oct 2021 |title=Why is Instagram accessing my camera at unexpected moments ? (The new privacy feature from Android 12 shows a red dot at the top right when an app is accessing sensitive hardware) |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Instagram/comments/qiyofe/why_is_instagram_accessing_my_camera_at/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20211030102434/https://old.reddit.com/r/Instagram/comments/qiyofe/why_is_instagram_accessing_my_camera_at/ |archive-date=30 Oct 2021 |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=15 Feb 2022 |title=Instagram weirdly accessing camera? (more in first comment) |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Instagram/comments/ssqeyi/instagram_weirdly_accessing_camera_more_in_first/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220215015408/https://old.reddit.com/r/Instagram/comments/ssqeyi/instagram_weirdly_accessing_camera_more_in_first/ |archive-date=15 Feb 2022 |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref>

In May 2019 Instagram suffered a big data breach which exposed sensitive information of almost 50 milion influencers and brands such as phone numbers and email adresses.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Whittaker |first=Zack |date=May 20, 2019 |title=Millions of Instagram influencers had their contact data scraped and exposed |url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/20/instagram-influencer-celebrity-accounts-scraped/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260202173310/https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/20/instagram-influencer-celebrity-accounts-scraped/ |archive-date=2 Feb 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=May 23, 2019 |title=Instagram data breach! 49 million users’ sensitive data exposed online |url=https://cisomag.com/instagram-data-breach-49-million-users-sensitive-data-exposed-online/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251019102516/https://cisomag.com/instagram-data-breach-49-million-users-sensitive-data-exposed-online/ |archive-date=19 Oct 2025}}</ref>. It was later stated that no more than 350.000 accounts were affected and least some of the personal information was set to public by the affected accounts

The database was stored on an Amazon server and wasn't protected by a password<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 21, 2019 |title=Instagram: Facebook probes breach of millions of influencer accounts |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48347592 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260202052918/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48347592 |archive-date=2 Feb 2026 |work=BBC}}</ref>

The database was open for at least 72 hours, although a researcher verified that it was first accesed on May 14th<ref name=":2" />

Since at least early 2019 until mid-2023 Meta has taken minimal action regarding closing accounts of children under 13, after requests sent from their parents and friends. Meta was actively collecting personal information of these children without their parents consent. This led to a lawsuit against the company in which it was stated that Meta violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rothenberg |first=Eva |date=26 Nov 2023 |title=Meta collected children’s data from Instagram accounts, unsealed court document alleges |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/26/business/meta-collecting-data-children-facebook |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251124234550/https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/26/business/meta-collecting-data-children-facebook |archive-date=24 Nov 2025 |work=CNN}}</ref>

==Other incidents==

===API restrictions (June 2016)===

Starting with June 2016, Instagram imposed restrictions on their API that made it difficult for third-party apps, web front ends and search engines to work.<ref>[https://zeldman.com/2016/06/04/instagram-third-party-developers-drop-dead/ Instagram to third-party developers: drop dead] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260130093146/https://zeldman.com/2016/06/04/instagram-third-party-developers-drop-dead/ Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.macrumors.com/2016/06/02/instagram-third-party-apps-websites-dead/ Third-Party Instagram Apps and Websites Cease to Work - Mac Rumors] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251211004701/https://www.macrumors.com/2016/06/02/instagram-third-party-apps-websites-dead/ Archived])</ref> Third-party tools like Hashtag Pirate had searching capabilities well beyond Instagram's built-in search tool, such as filtering by multiple tags and limiting by media type (photo or video).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20171112094946/http://hashtagpirate.com/news/instagram-blocked-access/ Instagram blocked access] - Hashtag Pirate, June 3, 2016</ref>