Instagram Admits Suggesting Creed’s Higher to More People Than Intended

Meta confirmed to Billboard on Friday (Oct. 9) that Instagram has been recommending Creed’s 1999 rock anthem “Higher” to an inordinate amount of users as a suggested track for posts and Stories. “We looked into this and found that this song is being recommended to more people than intended,” a representative for the company stated. “We’re continuing to investigate.”

Billboard reached out to Creed for comment.

The confirmation follows reports from multiple users seeing “Higher” in their app song recommendations without a clear reason, prompting questions about whether the high frequency of suggestions was accidental.

“Posted on instagram about how instagram always tries to make me add Higher by Creed to my stories and it turns out it’s happening to other people,” shared one user on X in late September. “I feel like I’ong uncovering a big conspiracy. Theo algorithms want us to love creed.”

“Instagram really wanted me to add higher by creed to the picture of caesar salad I posted…they almost had me this time,” shared another.

A spokesperson told CNN that the track is regularly recommended to them as well. Regarding another frequently recommended track, the spokesperson added, “The Soulja Boy song [‘Turn My Swag On’] being recommended is not a bug, and it is actually popular on IG!”

“Higher” was released in 1999 as the lead single from Creed’s second album, Human Clay, and reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 2000.