'Democrats' hidden in Instagram search results as Meta rushes to fix 'embarrassing' problem

21 January

Although billionaire Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was critical of Donald Trump in the past, he reached out to Trump in a big way after the 2024 election. Zuckerberg met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, donated to Trump's inauguration fund, and attended President Trump's inauguration on Monday, January 20.

Moreover, Zuckerberg is drawing criticism for eliminating the use of fact-checkers on Facebook.

The day after the inauguration, the BBC reported that Democrats were being plagued by what appeared to be a technical glitch on Instagram — which Meta owns along with Facebook.

BBC technology reporter Tom Gerken explains, "Meta says its working urgently to fix a problem with Instagram which results in a 'results hidden' message when users search for the terms 'Democrat' or 'Democrats.' Some social media users have accused the company of political bias, pointing out the issue has been occurring after President Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday, which was attended by Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg."

Social media expert Matt Navarra told the BBC that although Instagram was probably having a technical glitch, it was "embarrassing" for Meta nonetheless.

Navarra observed, "In a hyper-partisan environment, even unintentional errors like this can escalate into accusations of partisanship. If these issues are not resolved quickly, they risk fueling conspiracy theories and damaging Meta's reputation."

A Meta rep, in an official statement, told that BBC, "We're aware of an error affecting hashtags across the political spectrum and we are working quickly to resolve it",

Read the BBC's full article at this link.

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