【??? ??】Enter to watch online.Instagram insists 'bug' that negatively affected Joe Biden was 'not partisan'

Look,??? ?? just because a so-called Instagram "bug" benefits President Donald Trump and hurts Democratic nominee and political rival Joe Biden does notmean it's partisan. And, if you dare to suggest otherwise, then get ready for Instagram to jump down your throat.

At issue is Instagram's "related hashtags" feature which shows hashtags supposedly related to whatever hashtag a user has clicked on. However, as the Tech Transparency Project — a research initiative of the nonprofit Campaign for Accountability — reported Wednesday, Instagram was populating Joe Biden's related hashtags page with positive, neutral, and (critically) negative hashtags, while no hashtags of any kind were on Trump's page.

In other words, clicking on #joebiden might present you with #sleepyjoe, but, because of the bug, clicking on #donaldtrump would present you with no other hashtags. It's pretty wild. As the two screenshots captured by the Tech Transparency Project below show, this in effect served up negative content for one presidential candidate and not the other.

---

You May Also Like

---

---

"#creepyjoebiden" is quite the related hashtag. Credit: screenshot / Tech Transparency Project / instagram Look, no related hashtags. Credit: screenshot / Tech Transparency Project / instagram

In its defense, Instagram chalked this up to a "bug," and got more than a little testy when BuzzFeed News Senior Reporter Ryan Mac tweeted a story about the discrepancy.

"This isn't about politics," wrote an Instagram spokesperson in response to Mac. "Tens of thousands of hashtags were affected, and your story cherry-picked a handful of those thousands to fit a sensational narrative. The bug was also not partisan, as you note #democrats was impacted."

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Indeed, as the Tech Transparency Project noted, it was not just the #donaldtrump hashtag that was affected.

"Instagram blocked the display of related hashtags on all 10 of the Trump hashtags reviewed, including #donaldtrump, #trump and #trump2020," the Tech Transparency Project determined. "That means users were not directed to other content, including anything negative or critical about the president."

Similar Biden hashtags reportedly did direct users to negative information.

SEE ALSO: Facebook's TikTok rip-off launches new privacy concerns this August

"A technical error caused a number of hashtags to not show related hashtags," Instagram confirmed to BuzzFeed News. "We've disabled this feature while we investigate."

To be clear, there is no reason to doubt that this was indeed some accident of code quietly lurking in the background. Even so, as this bug shows, a thing does not need to have intentionality behind it to do real harm.

Topics Facebook Instagram Social Media Donald Trump Joe Biden

• recreation
• knowledge
• synthesize
• relaxation
• explore
• fashion
• focus
• hotspot

• Top Innovator
• So many good doggos celebrated Pride in London along with their humans
• Poor raccoon is absolutely terrified of fireworks
• Donald Trump Jr tweets himself into a deeper hole, just like his dad
• Poll: 72% of JAs Disapprove of Trump
• So many good doggos celebrated Pride in London along with their humans
• Dude discovers his airport selfie with Jessica Alba is displayed in a deli he's never been to
• This guy hid an awesome Easter Egg in a week's worth of tweets
• Seminar on Leisure, Travel, Business Opportunities in Nagoya
• United is now literally taking things from children

• Apple didn't cut International Women's Day from its calendar
• Fascism for Dummies
• NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for March 8: Tips to solve Connections #166
• U.S. immigration services adding social media review for citizenship process
• Apple MacBook Air M3 deal: Save $300 at Amazon
• Best laptop deal: Get the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge for 21% off at Amazon
• The Musk of Success
• NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for March 7: Tips to solve Connections #165
• Best Apple Watch Watch deal: Series 10 is $100 off at Amazon
• Stuff Your Kindle Day: How to get free books on March 7

• Webs of Well
• Snoop Dogg just dragged Rob Kardashian hard for those Blac Chyna pictures
• UK Twitter responded to the Fourth of July in the most British way ever
• Hamster's vet tale will leave you laugh crying
• Searching for Tetsu (Part 1)
• Police officer says yes to a proposal from her girlfriend at London Pride
• It took less than a week for Nevada to start running out of legal marijuana
• Watermelons are the trendy Instagram accessory of summer 2017
• Senate Passes Hirono Bill to Strengthen Volcano Monitoring Capabilities
• Angela Merkel welcomes peck on the cheek from Justin Trudeau

• Terminal Islanders to Celebrate 15th Anniversary of Memorial Monument
• We rated every Trump handshake so far at G20
• This guy hid an awesome Easter Egg in a week's worth of tweets
• This guy hid an awesome Easter Egg in a week's worth of tweets
• Deukmejian Remembered
• Seth Rogen's mom tweets about sex, gets response from Seth Rogen
• Move over Macron, Trudeau has got a new bromance
• Your laptop is now allowed on U.S. flights from Dubai and Istanbul
• JA Confinement Sites Consortium Convenes at JANM
• The online tool that's helping bring Indigenous Australian massacres into the light