Instagram ain’t what it used to be. What started as a simple platform to share retro-inspired photos with friends and family quickly turned into a social media mega-app. You can still share photos, sure, but the platform now offers just about everything, from livestreams to short-form video feeds. In fact, for some users, the Instagram algorithm has turned their feeds into bona fide meme machines, with low-effort videos, images, and carousel posts dominating their experience as they scroll through the app. If you use Instagram, you may have a similar experience—especially if you have a taste for quirky, niche, or otherwise alternative internet humor.
Instagram is putting slop on notice
That’s likely changing in the near future. As reported by TechCrunch, Instagram is cracking down on “unoriginal” content—or posts from creators that they didn’t create themselves. That includes single photo posts, as well as carousel posts. The idea here is to promote Instagram users who post original content, while limiting users who simply copy other people’s work and share it on their own feeds. Much of the low-quality images and videos you see on Instagram (and other social media platforms, for that matter) are stolen from other creators, and reposted as if the uploader has any claim to that content in the first place. Carousels are particular egregious, since it allows a single user to post a number of different images from various creators.
This doesn’t mean that any user who reposts something they didn’t make themselves will be punished. As long as the poster made a meaningful change to that image or video, it should count as “original” content, in Instagram’s book. Otherwise, there’d be a whole host of content—memes or otherwise—that would be banned from the platform. That doesn’t include “low-effort edits,” however, such as overlaying watermarks or adjusting the speed of the video. A user needs to make more material changes to a piece of content for it to be approved here. As Instagram explains, “an original meme transforms another creator’s photo or video…When meme creators add humor, social commentary, cultural references, or a relatable take by incorporating elements such as unique text, creative edits, and voiceover on a photo or video, they’re producing something original. The best meme creators take third-party content and make it unmistakably theirs by layering in a perspective, joke, or context that wasn’t there before. This is the kind of creativity we want to continue rewarding.”
You probably won’t notice a change in AI slop, though
As TechCrunch highlights, Instagram has already applied these rules to reels, so this isn’t the first time the platform has tried implementing this policy. What I find interesting, however, is there doesn’t appear to be much attention to “AI slop” at this time. In fact, Meta appears to be all-in on AI content, at least as of late 2025. I guess as long as the AI content is “original,” Meta doesn’t have a problem with it populating on its platforms, Instagram included. That’s the opposite approach YouTube is taking: While both platforms suffer from low-quality AI clips, YouTube is actually trying to fight that type of AI content from spreading.
What do you think so far?
On Instagram, however, you might see a decrease in the amount of repeated, low-effort meme posts that may be flooding your feeds, but you also might have to deal with the same amount of odd AI videos that have been spreading like wildfire. Obvious AI videos are obvious, of course, but with advancing AI video models, new clips are sometimes difficult to tell apart from reality. Be careful out there.
