Instagram Stories are repeating over and over again, giving users a severe case of deja vu. Under normal circumstances, whenever users post a new Story, their friends see that photo or video before moving on to the next person’s Story or backing out. However, thanks to numerous complaints on social media today, users are reporting a bug that causes Instagram to show them the same Stories every time their friends post a new one — resulting in a lot of repeating content.
Here’s my example: A friend of mine, let’s call him Joel, posted 17 stories within the last 23 hours and has posted another one. When I tap on Joel’s Story icon, I should see only the most recent story. However, his story replays the first 17 stories I already swiped through between this morning and the time that I’m writing this.
Brett Jordan/Unsplash
Users have taken to Twitter to complain about Instagram Stories playing in an endless loop. Even fast-food restaurant Carl’s Jr. contributed to the discourse with a picture of its mascot kicking, screaming, and crying over rewatching everyone’s Stories from the beginning.
anyone elses instagram stories being weird?? i keep having to view the same ones i ALREADY VIEWED!!! its pissing me off omfg
— logan (@hwreligion) June 13, 2022
INSTAGRAM WHY DO U KEEP SHOWING ME THE SAME GOD DAMN INSTAGRAM STORIES IVE ALREADY SEEN AND WATCHED!!!! @instagram
— Caity Babs (@CiBabs) June 14, 2022
Me having to rewatch everyone’s Instagram stories from the beginning each time they post a new one because of this glitch pic.twitter.com/bcmj9N5Q4z
— Carl’s Jr. (@CarlsJr) June 14, 2022
According to an Instagram subreddit, the root cause of Instagram Stories playing on repeat is a glitch that came with a new update. The bug is causing the Instagram app to not remember where users left off in their friends’ Stories, so they start from square one every time they post new content. Some users said they were able to fix the problem by deleting the app and reinstalling it, while others were unsuccessful in their attempts.
The Story loop bug coincides with Meta introducing new parental control features for Instagram to regulate teens’ time on Instagram and protect their digital well-being. Whether or not the Stories repeating bug is tied to those new controls is unclear, but it’s obvious that something isn’t working as intended.
At the time of publication, it’s unknown how many users are affected by the Instagram Stories repeating bug. An Instagram spokesperson told The Verge that the company is “aware that some people are having trouble accessing Instagram Stories,” and said a fix should be coming soon. Instagram hasn’t said when exactly to expect that fix, so don’t be surprised if your Instagram Stories keep repeating for a little while longer.