February the 26th

I clearly remember the date 26th February 2026. I can never forget it. Neither do other people who were online that day. This day was called "The darkest day of Instagram".

I got up that day. I was sipping on my hot cup of coffee while going through my Instagram. I consider myself to be an Instagram elder who has been using it since 2013. Anyway, I was scrolling through my feed which generally consists of cat and bird posts. Then appeared a post that froze me for a second. This is not a post that would usually appear on Instagram. It is against the policies of Instagram. I was shocked to see it. The post showed a man shooting another person at a point blank range, the other person falls down, the shooter approached the camera and smiled at it. At first I thought this is a prank and I had somehow landed at a prankster's account. But that was not the case. It appeared to be a real event and not a prank. I generally report such posts. But the whole reel was too gory for me to continue to scroll further. I closed Instagram and moved on with my routine.

A few hours later, I casually opened Instagram again. This time I was hit with another such gory reel. My entire feed was covered with such reels and posts. Violence, crying, screaming, explosions, torture, violence against animals, alien sightings, mysterious figures appearing, you name it and all disturbing and unsettling posts started appearing. I shut my Instagram again and I vowed that I will not open Instagram again. At least that day.

Some time later I thought that I should check with few of my friends if they have experienced something similar. A lot of my buddies are "chronically online", hence asking them made sense. I texted few of such friends that I have received disturbing content on Instagram. Their response was instant and equally shocking. They had received such reels and posts too. Instagram had become the moster and it was now hunting us.

So it was not just me. But what if only we (me and my frineds) received such posts? What if our algorithms connected? Did other users received them too? There was only one way to find out. I quickly went on X (Twitter). What I saw on X was not unexpected but also not what I wanted to see. It was a global phenomenon. No Instagram user was spared from viewing disturbing content on Instagram. All users were complaining on X. Several users had also mentioned that they reported many posts and account sharing such posts but it was useless.

By the end of the day Meta responded. They apologied for inconvenience. They mentioned that there was an error in the algorithm which resulted in the glitch. It was confirmed that the error had been fixed. Next day onwards Instagram was normal again. I got cat, bird, and nature posts back in my feed.

The questions that still remain unanswered: Was Instagram hacked that day? Who could have backed it? Were these posts real? Who had the access to such posts? Who created such posts? Did these post ever release on Instagram that got blocked/reported later? Who was in charge of Instagram that day? Who altered the global algorithm? Was someone trying to communicate using such posts? Can any action be taken against the criminals shown in the posts? Can the victims from the posts get justice?

It is still scary to think about this phenomenon. 26th February 2025 is a day that will be remembered by the internet. I hope such day never occurs again in the future of internet.