If you woke up this morning and saw a noticeable dip in your Instagram follower count—fear not, there's a bug on the loose.
As panicked social users began harping their concerns across platforms, many people started sharing a screenshot of a tweet presumably posted on Instagram's Twitter account. However, in a statement to BuzzFeed News, Instagram said the photo is fake.
In response to the panic, Instagram's official Twitter account attempted to ease the concerns of those who thought they had lost their validation overnight. "We’re aware of an issue that is causing a change in account follower numbers for some people right now," Instagram wrote. "We’re working to resolve this as quickly as possible."
Changes to the social platform have also grabbed users' attention recently, following an announcement that Instagram will be testing a browser version of DM's, which are currently only on the app.
Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch that they will not publicly test the web version, which as the article notes, is a "go-to line" used when news surfaces before a product or update has left internal development.
According to a New York Times report in January, Mark Zuckerberg intends on merging Facebook's three messaging apps: Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Although sources explained that the platforms will continue to act as standalone apps, the messaging features within each will be consolidated.
