A massive Facebook bug fills users’ news feeds with celebrity posts

A severe flaw in Facebook’s algorithm has filled users’ news feeds with random fan messages written to massive celebrity accounts like Taylor Swift, Shakira, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, and Eminem.

Users have noticed the meltdown and have begun bombarding celebrity accounts with posts and memes, worsening the platform’s instability. More opportunistic users are uploading QR codes to their PayPal and Cash App accounts, as well as connecting their businesses and Spotify accounts.

Downdetector, a company that records app and website meltdowns based on user reports, showed a spike in Facebook complaints at about 3.45 pm on Wednesday.

The scope of the bug is vast because it affects some of Facebook’s most popular accounts. They include the pages of Cristiano Ronaldo (152 million followers), Shakira (116 million), and Rihanna (101 million).

https://twitter.com/chrismearle/status/1562321316744777729?s=20&t=XuUGBSeMJ8n-S6sYrFq1vQ

https://twitter.com/arekgasiecki/status/1562329665645182976?s=20&t=LTKdVs_DrC9bHKCpa0TqwQ

The bug appears to be impacting Facebook in a number of countries, on both desktop and mobile. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has not responded to inquiries or made any comments about the bug.

Around 5.15 p.m., some users reported that the problem had begun to resolve.

Meta services Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp fell down for over six hours worldwide in October 2021.