Users of Threads, Meta’s fledgling social media platform, ended up experiencing one of the most puzzling and scary bugs recently. This bug affected the app on both mobile and desktop platforms. A small bug had one user’s post playing on a loop repeatedly on their friends’ feeds. This prompted lots of confusion and some hilarity amongst fellow Twitter users.
Alexa Heinrich originally brought attention to the problem by tweeting out a screenshot. Last month, she was shocked to find what she calls daily sexual solicitation on her Threads feed. In the image, numerous users appeared to be echoing the same phrase: “Siri, unsubscribe me from 2025.” The series of posts provided a humorous take on Apple’s AI personal assistant, Siri. They seemed to have a real hope of opting out the first year.
Amanda is a senior writer at TechCrunch. As someone who reports on the intersection of technology and culture, she called out the incident as one of a string of recent blunders for Meta’s apps. Even though the Threads error was an eyebrow-raising case, it was seen more as a cute goof than a dangerous blunder.
In response to the developing outcry, Andy Stone, Meta’s Communications Director, admitted the bug on Twitter. He stated,
“Whoops, well that clearly shouldn’t have happened! We’re working on getting it fixed now.”
This incident is a reminder of the precariousness of social media platforms as a stable and permanent functionality. These types of bugs can have dramatic effects on overall experience and user engagement, causing serious unintended outcomes.
The repeated catchphrase adds levity to a still confusing story. The lightheartedness of this presentation undoubtedly mitigated what would have otherwise been an excruciating experience. Consumers have become adept at overcoming small technical challenges across platforms. That last point is particularly relevant for companies like Meta, which have been plagued by issues time and again over the past few months.
As users seem to accept that this bit of code still needs to be worked out, they should keep sharing their experiences and screenshots on the Threads. The whimsical tone associated with the bug speaks to the strength and determination of our community. Together, we can overcome tech-related frustrations and get to work!