Why Instagram showed strangers' Stories to users
What's the story
Another day, another example of Facebook's poor grip on the data of its users. In a recent investigation, TechCrunch found that the company's photo-sharing platform Instagram showed strangers' Stories to users. The problem occurred due to a bug in the service but has now been fixed, an Instagram spokesperson confirmed. Here's everything you need to know about the fiasco.
Issue
Stories appeared from unknown people
Earlier this week, some Instagram users starting seeing Stories of people they never followed in the first place. The problem was reported by at least one user on Twitter who saw Stories from random people on top-positioned 'Stories' tray. However, in most of the cases, the Stories showing up from random people didn't display the content due to Instagram's privacy settings.
Twitter Post
InternetRyan saw Stories from people he didn't follow
Hey @instagram/@facebook, people who I don’t follow (with private accounts) are showing up in my Stories. pic.twitter.com/JY6OUuW8aq
— internetryan (@internetryan) April 10, 2019
Confirmation
Later, Instagram confirmed it was a bug
After TechCrunch took note of the matter and contacted Instagram about the issue, a spokesperson from the photo-sharing company acknowledged the problem. The representative said the issue occurred due to a bug in the service, one that was patched hours after being brought into attention. However, they did not explain the reason behind the issue.
Quote
Here is what Instagram's spokesperson said
"We're aware of an issue that caused a small number of people's Instagram Stories trays to show accounts they don't follow. If your account is private, your Stories were not seen by people who don't follow you. This was caused by a bug we've resolved."
Impact
500 million people use Instagram Stories daily
While Instagram says only a small number of users were impacted, a considerable number of people might still have seen strangers' Stories as 500 million users use the feature on a daily basis. Not to mention, the issue also highlights how hard Facebook is finding to contain user-information. The service has been marred by privacy-related debacles, and this makes another bad case.