You’re heartbroken, and you’re on Instagram. You type in your ex’s name through tears in the search bar. It was a messy breakup; you squint so you can’t see whether they archived photos of you two, and with shaky fingers, you tap their profile and unfollow them.
The next day, you see a tagged photo of them at the top of your feed. Their friend — who you still follow — posted it. Once again, you’re in tears. You’re spiraling. How did this happen?
Likely, “the” algorithm. Across the internet, users have complained about being confronted by profiles and memories they’d rather not see. If that’s happened to you, you’re not alone — researchers spoke to Mashable about why this happens, and what you (and the platforms) can do about it.
How do algorithms work?
Social media algorithms are complex, and the platforms don’t reveal a lot about their inner workings. What we do know …