Some Instagram users no longer have the Close Friends option

Certain Instagram users who are hoping to share intimate Stories with their closest friends have found they no longer can. It’s unclear why.

The “close friends” option was essentially a bracketed list of accounts that users could click to share certain Story content with. That is, if you didn’t want to publish an Instagram Story update for the whole world to see, you had the ability to send it only to those few on this elite list of your own making.

It seems, however, that Instagram is at least testing changes to the option, or perhaps getting rid of it altogether. Multiple people on Twitter have noted that they no longer have the close friends button when publishing Stories, and a couple of my colleagues say they no longer have the option either. As of right now, I still have the close friends button on my own account, although admittedly, I have never used it.

Reached for comment, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed to Fast Company that it was not getting rid of the close friends feature. The company provided this statement: “Earlier today, some people may have experienced issues with some features on Instagram Stories. The issue has since been fully resolved; we apologize for any inconvenience.”

This post has been updated to reflect input from Facebook.