• Facebook Breaks Down: Users report their news feed getting spammed with celebrity posts

    Sci & Tech
    Facebook Breaks Down: Users report their news feed getting spammed with celebrity posts

    Various users have started sharing screenshots of their feed being flooded by posts that are addressed to celebrities they follow.

    Digital Desk: Facebook users today experienced a bug as their newsfeeds were deluged with random spam posts from strangers sharing content from celebrity accounts.

    2.8 billion users of the social network reported being affected by the strange glitch that clogged news feeds with memes, pornography, and cryptocurrency spam.

    Celebrity pages, which can have tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of followers, looked to be the focus of trolls who used the bug to send a flood of spam to those who had previously "loved" a popular page.

    Anyone posting anything to the pages of well-known musicians, athletes, and influencers would have their post broadcast to the millions of people who followed them, effectively rendering Facebook unusable for several hours.

    Security experts today informed MailOnline that the problem may have been caused by Meta's recent changes to its algorithm, which normally filters out posts linked to popular accounts.

    Facebook users who were outraged were quick to express their displeasure online, many of whom vented their frustration at the random posts that were flooding their news feeds and expressed concern that their personal accounts had been hacked.

    Facebook's parent company, Meta, has reported issues since 7:08 AM BST, according to the website Downdetector, which tracks downtime on websites. The feeds appeared to be returning to normal as of 10.10 GMT.

    Notably, a Meta spokeswoman told MailOnline: "We're aware that some people are having trouble with their Facebook Feed. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience."