Did you know Instagram Accused of Political Bias After New Glitch Blocks Pro-Democrat Content
Meta is dealing with a lot of upset users at the moment.
The
company was accused of political bias after its Instagram app chose to
hide content and block material that was pro-Democrat in nature. The
matter was certainly unusual as all Pro-Republican posts were still on
display.
When searching for hashtags like Democrats,
users were met with alerts that said this content was hidden. As
expected, this led to a major uproar online with Meta forced to step in.
The tech giant has assured us that it’s just a glitch and a change is
expected soon.
The fact that the incident arose right after
Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony is also very interesting with many
thinking a strategic agenda might be at large. After all, Zuckerberg was
also a part of the front-row attendees on Capitol Hill, alongside Elon
Musk, Tom Cook, Jeff Bezos, and Sundar Pichai.
As a result, users were left with no choice but to turn to Reddit to make others aware of the issue they were facing. Another user shared how all Republican content was at large but the exact opposite was true for Democrats as searching for it produced zero results.
Image: WhitePeopleTwitter / Reddit
It was not only users in America but also those located in Spain, Germany, and different parts of the EU who experienced a similar ordeal. One user went as far as to state a comprehensive list of hashtags causing issues which included terms like Obama, Queer, Prochoice, Right Wing, Democrat, Constitution, Reproductive Rights, and so on.
Some users accused the tech giant of intentional actions but experts like Matt Navarra were among those who said it was most likely a major tech glitch. However, it makes sense how the timing would have many suspicions. It also paves the way for a host of conspiracy theories that could further damage Meta’s reputation.
Meta released a statement on this front confirming that they were well aware of what was happening and would provide a solution very soon. Still, Zuckerberg rising from the blue with a pro-Trump attitude is definitely questionable. After all, the Meta CEO was threatened with jail time by Trump in the past.