Overview
- Reporters and SEO experts found autogenerated titles and longer descriptions embedded in Instagram post metadata that appear in Google search results.
- Google confirmed it is indexing text supplied by Instagram rather than creating these headlines itself.
- Examples span posts by author Jeff VanderMeer, the Groton Public Library, multiple cosplayers, and an Engadget editor.
- Analysts observed the titles in the page’s title tag via Google’s Rich Result Test and say they seem served specifically to search crawlers, not regular visitors.
- Users describe the copy as click‑bait and sometimes inaccurate, raising consent and reputational concerns while Meta has yet to offer a public explanation.