If your Instagram Stories kept offering Creed’s“Higher”as your soundtrack, you weren’t being targeted. Instagram confirmed the 1999 rock hit was recommended to far more users than intended, and a spokesperson told CNN the engineering team is investigating and working on a fix. For weeks, people posting everyday photos kept seeing the same suggestion pop up, and the jokes about a Creed-Meta conspiracy basically wrote themselves.
Here’s the wrinkle that makes this whole thing funnier. Instagram says the surge of Soulja Boy’s“Turn My Swag On”in Stories suggestions is not a bug. That song is genuinely popular on the platform right now. Song suggestions normally come from signals like your past use and whatever photo or video you posted, so getting Creed on a picture of your lunch was never supposed to be part of the plan.
The takeaway? Recommendation algorithms misfire, and when they do, millions of people notice at the exact same time. A random 1999 rock anthem became a shared inside joke across the entire app. So the next time your Stories suggest something completely out of left field, you’re in good company.
What’s the strangest song an app has ever recommended to you? Drop it in the comments and let’s compare notes.
About the Author
Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
