Instagram Debunks Viral Photos

There’s a viral photo going around Instagram that has forced the company to respond to its claims.

You might have seen it if you have logged on to your Instagram account in the past several days.

The photo reads: “THIS IS A TEST…Instagram has been limiting the visibility of your posts so that no more than 7% of folks see it. This is especially difficult for those of us who run small business here. Like and leave a comment on this post to improve rank and visibility of posts.”

Basically, it is a variant of the same garbage circulating around Facebook not too long ago about “Newsfeeds.”

Part conspiracy theory, part disingenuous ploy for upping account activity, this photo got the following response from Instagram on Twitter (of all places) according to DPReview: “What shows up first in your feed is determined by what posts and accounts you engage with the most, as well as other contributing factors such as the timeliness of posts, how often you use Instagram, how many people you follow, etc. …We have not made any recent changes to feed ranking, and we never hide posts from people you're following – if you keep scrolling, you will see them all. Again, your feed is personalized to you and evolves over time based on how you use Instagram.”

Instagram’s problems with conspiracy theories started ever since its switch in 2016 from a chronological feed to one controlled by an algorithm. The company has had to continually explain the how and why behind content posting ever since.

Then again, given the viral photo’s similarity to claims about Facebook;s limiting the reach of a user’s posts along with the call out to like and comment, this could just be yet another genre of schlock that comes along with social media platforms.