I didn’t quit social media in 2025, but I might have to if this awful trend continues in 2026
Instagram is becoming a dumping ground for AI slop, and it now seems to be coming from Meta itself.
Partially AI-generated image: Obama render taken from a screenshot of a Meta AI advert (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Jamie Richards / Future)
At the end of 2024, I wrote that I’d be stepping back from social media in 2025 due to its impact on my daily routine. As TechRadar’s Staff Writer for all things mobile, I know all too well that using my pocket supercomputer to swipe through vertical videos doesn’t exactly count as getting the best possible smartphone experience.
No prizes for guessing what happened next – I didn’t quit. In fact, if I had to guess, I think I’ve used Instagram’s mobile app more this year than in 2024.
And in the spirit of Christmas (or something like that), I’m forgiving myself for that transgression. In the past 12 months, I’ve accepted that, while I still need to cut down my smartphone screen time, social media isn’t going anywhere as a way to make plans and stay in touch, and that I can take on the benefits without dissolving into a puddle of Reels-fueled neuron soup.
However, the last year has also seen the prevalence of AI-generated photos, videos, and audio grow exponentially on social media, spawning memes and misunderstanding in seemingly equal measure. As we recently reported, “slop” was named word of the year by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster, in reaction to the deluge of low-quality AI content that hit our screens in the last 12 months.
I’ve always felt that it’s unfair to judge a platform solely on its user-uploaded content, so I’ve largely given Meta a pass on each consecutive wave of AI slop, even if I’d rather be nowhere near it myself.
But it increasingly seems like Instagram – famously a home for visual creatives and also an essential lifeline for musicians, actors, and comedians – is leaning towards the type of brainless, inane, and stupefying AI content that is filling user feeds.
What the hell are we doing here, Meta? (Image credit: Jamie Richards / Future)
I’m frankly troubled by the mid-feed adverts I see for Meta AI, which present as carousels of AI-generated videos and are often a bit messed up in some way or another. I’ve seen grotesque fruit-baby hybrids, Barack Obama DJing (can’t imagine that was sanctioned), and, most confusingly, an overweight Mark Zuckerberg running topless on a treadmill, which I can’t imagine the Meta boss would be too happy about.
