OK, this is a very bad look.

It all started when a Guardian reporter, Olivia Solon, discovered that the social media platform was using a photo she posted of a violent threat to advertise on Facebook.

The gaffe happened because of an algorithm fail, rather than someone dropping the ball, but that hasn’t stopped the criticism.

First up is the advert that was displayed to Facebook users who were friends with Olivia:

The timing is pretty terrible, too, given that Facebook is currently facing intense scrutiny over the “ethical failings of its algorithms and advertising tools”:

It’s unclear why Instagram chose to highlight Solon’s hate mail to friends on Facebook. When she posted the screenshot last year, she wrote: “This is an email I received this afternoon. Sadly this is all too common for women on the internet. I am sure this is just an idiot rather than any kind of credible threat but it’s still pretty vile.”

The photo received three likes and more than a dozen sympathetic comments. It’s possible that Instagram’s algorithm considered it an “engaging” post because of the number of responses. But given existing technology that can analyze words embedded in images, it’s unclear if Instagram has any systems in place that would detect the violent and abusive text and flag it as an inappropriate choice for an ad.

An Instagram spokesperson apologized [sic] and claimed that the image was not used in a “paid promotion”. “We are sorry this happened – it’s not the experience we want someone to have,” the statement said. “This notification post was surfaced as part of an effort to encourage engagement on Instagram. Posts are generally received by a small percentage of a person’s Facebook friends.”

Facebook has had to deal with plenty of criticism over two popular features in the past, the “Year in Review” clips and the “On This Day” feature. Turns out they were pretty good at bringing up hurtful memories of deceased loved ones and tragic incidents.

And those pictures of you from varsity that you really don’t want your employers to see.

[source:guardian]