You launch Instagram on your mobile device and quickly notice a captivating video in your feed. Just as you’re about to watch it, however, the feed refreshes, causing the video to disappear.

At first glance, this might appear to be a technical error, right? Well, Instagram was actually doing this on purpose. After causing frustration among numerous users, the platform has opted to put an end to this practice.

### Instagram Discontinues the “Rug Pull”

In a recent clip shared on his Instagram Stories, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, was prompted to point out a change on the platform that may have gone unnoticed by users. Mosseri disclosed that Instagram had eliminated what they called the “rug pull.” This phrase described the situation where users would open the app, encounter content, only to see it vanish as the feed updated with new entries.

Surprisingly, Mosseri confessed that this feature was by design. Instagram would showcase content that had already been pre-loaded in the app while it retrieved newer posts from the server. The intention was to provide users with something to engage with while waiting for new content to become available.

“It was generally beneficial for engagement,” Mosseri noted, yet he also recognized that it was “really frustrating” for users. Consequently, Instagram decided to eliminate this feature.

### Not Just Instagram

It is important to mention that Instagram isn’t alone in using this strategy. Other applications, such as Elon Musk’s X (previously known as Twitter), have also displayed content in the “For You” feed that quickly disappears after launching the app. Initially, many users, myself included, believed this was merely a glitch. Yet, it appears that some social media companies are prepared to sacrifice user experience to enhance engagement statistics.

Let’s hope this trend diminishes across all social media platforms.