My Instagram feed went from husky photos to conspiracy memes overnight

Last Tuesday I liked a post about a lost dog in my neighborhood, and by Wednesday my whole explore page was filled with QAnon-adjacent garbage about election fraud. I didn't click on any of it or engage, just that one like triggered a total shift. Has anyone else had their algorithm completely warp after one innocent interaction?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wesley5d ago

Man that's wild, I swear the algorithm is like a gossipy neighbor who assumes you're into whatever you glanced at for half a second.

robin6287d ago

That whole "one like changed everything" thing is so real. My buddy Mark, he's not really into politics at all, just likes old trucks. He liked a picture of a vintage Ford from some car page, and next thing he knows his feed is half truck restorations and half some weirdo talking about how the moon landing was faked. He showed me his phone and it was insane, like the algorithm just decided he was a conspiracy guy now because he clicked on one engine block.

ryan_barnes7d ago

Is it weird that I used to roll my eyes at people complaining about this stuff, thinking they just clicked on too many random things? Then my mom, who only shares pictures of her garden, started getting recommended videos about "ancient aliens built the pyramids" and I had to eat my words. It really does only take one stupid click for the whole thing to jump the tracks, man.