At a time when people are trying to be considerate of each other’s trauma and feelings, Instagram had a fatal flaw that caused multiple users to feel “triggered”.
The search function in the social media app has automatically started recommending terms such as “fasting”, “appetite suppressant” and such terms to some people.
Also read | Instagram starts an experiment to hide “likes”.
People who have an eating disorder felt triggered because of these suggestions, and some even felt they might relapse.
Instagram has now removed all of these harmful terms from the platform and apologized for the damage it caused. The company has labeled it a “bug” that has been fixed, a spokesman said.
Also read | Instagram is releasing new stickers on Ramzan. Here’s how to use it
“We recently introduced a new search feature on Instagram that goes beyond hashtags and usernames to make it easier for you to discover and explore the content that interests you most,” said a spokesman for Facebook, owner of Instagram.
“As part of this new feature, when you tap the search bar, we’re suggesting topics you might want to search for,” he added. “These suggestions, as well as the search results themselves, are of general interest and weight loss shouldn’t have been one of them.”
