Instagram tenders apology for flagging #EndSARS posts as fake

Social media is not just changing the way we communicate, it’s changing the way we are governed and the way we live in society.

Instagram apologizes for its algorithm malfunction that leads to the dismay of its users.

Backstory:

Instagram on the 21st of October flagged a series of posts in support of #EndSARS protest killings, as false information.

Users received messages of, “False: The same false information was reviewed in another post by fact-checkers. There may be small differences. Independent fact-checkers say this information has no basis in fact.”

This came as a huge disappointment to some of its users as the company refused to be of help in a critical time.

The social networking service apologizes, saying that its algorithm incorrectly flagged the posts, “Yesterday our systems were incorrectly flagging content in support of #EndSARS and marking posts as false. We are deeply sorry for this. The issue has now been resolved, and we apologize for letting our community down in such a time of need,” they stated

Yesterday our systems were incorrectly flagging content in support of #EndSARS, and marking posts as false. We are deeply sorry for this. The issue has now been resolved, and we apologize for letting our community down in such a time of need.

— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 22, 2020

(READ MORE:#EndSARS: Nigerian Army set to commence Exercise Crocodile Smile VI)

The incident of October 20th took place at the Lekki toll plaza where the Nigerian military shot at several of the youths who were on a peaceful protest seeking an end to police brutality amongst other demands. Amnesty International confirmed that about 12 of the protesters were killed while hundreds of them sustained injures.

What you need to know:

The #EndSARS movement was first introduced in 2017. Its most recent protest started on the 7th of October, youths initiated back the protest to call for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigeria Police Force.