Instagram says it has fixed an issue that sent password reset emails to millions of users, but the cause of the problem remains unclear. The social media platform claims there was no breach of its systems, despite reports suggesting that sensitive information about 17.5 million accounts, including usernames and phone numbers, were available on the dark web.
The Verge has contacted Meta, Instagram's parent company, for clarification on what triggered the password reset emails but so far received no response. The platform says users can safely ignore these emails as the issue has been fixed.
However, the lack of clarity surrounding the cause of the problem has raised concerns among some users and security experts who question how such an incident could occur without being detected by Instagram's systems.
The Verge has contacted Meta, Instagram's parent company, for clarification on what triggered the password reset emails but so far received no response. The platform says users can safely ignore these emails as the issue has been fixed.
However, the lack of clarity surrounding the cause of the problem has raised concerns among some users and security experts who question how such an incident could occur without being detected by Instagram's systems.
. It's always good to be safe than sorry, right? Like, what if people tried to reset their passwords a million times and it just kept going on like that? That would've been chaos 
. But for real though, 17.5 million accounts affected is no joke 
. I'm just glad they said there was no breach of systems, but at the same time... how did this even happen in the first place? 
shouldn't it be their job to protect users' info? Anyway, I guess that's what happens when you're a giant corporation and you gotta deal with so many users 
. Hopefully they'll come clean about what went down soon 
just heard about this instagram thing and i gotta say its pretty wild that they sent out password reset emails to like 17.5 million users... thats a lot of people, fam! 
normally you would think they'd be super careful with sensitive info like usernames and phone numbers but i guess not in their case 
. its weird that the dark web got exposed too, thats like something out of a movie, right? 
Like, okay... but how did all that sensitive info like usernames and phone numbers end up on the dark web without anyone noticing? 
Not cool. 
I'm definitely going to be keeping a closer eye on my account from now on... just in case! 
It's just weird that Meta isn't being super transparent about it. Can't they just say sorry and give us some insight? 
that doesn't add up to me... if they're saying it's not a breach, how did all that info end up on the dark web in the first place?! 
seems like a pretty big oversight to me...
. I get that the company says it's no breach, but how can we be sure? The fact that sensitive info showed up on the dark web is major red flag 
. What if some of those accounts were hijacked already? 
I'm not saying Instagram is bad or anything, but this just shows us how vulnerable our online lives are 
. We need to be more careful and keep those passwords safe 
!
The fact that Instagram won't say what triggered it doesn't help... it's just more questions than answers. 
Meta's just blowing us off, no explanation, zip 
. I'm all for keeping people safe online, but you gotta do it right 
. Password reset emails shouldn't be happening in the first place, let alone sending them out to millions of users 
. I'm keeping an eye on this one, folks 
... how does this happen? are we just too trusting? do companies think we're stupid enough not to notice if our passwords are gettin' sent out willy-nilly 
? and what's with the 'don't worry, it's fixed' vibe from Instagram? that's just not good enough 
... these people gotta explain themselves, ya know?
this is just wild - millions of people's info ends up on the dark web because instagram can't even keep its own password reset system stable 
.
.