Facebook’s new Explore feed is a cesspool of the worst content on the internet

Facebook is testing out a new feature that would move news stories posted by publishers away from people’s existing news feeds and into a new, hard-to-find “Explore” page.

The new feed has been tested in Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala, and Cambodia, but users in the US and other countries are now seeing Explore on desktop and mobile as well.

According to Facebook, Explore is “a complementary feed of popular articles, videos, and photos automatically customized for each person based on content that might be interesting to them.” A few of us at Quartz went to our personal Explore sections to find out what content Facebook thought we were interested in. What the world’s largest social network delivered was the absolute dredges of the internet, from fake news about the Las Vegas massacre to HOMELESS PEOPLE REACT TO MAGIC TRICKS! ( LA).

Here are five of the first things a few of us saw at facebook.com/explore.

Nikhil Sonnad:

1. This is a floating tent
2. HOMELESS PEOPLE REACT TO MAGIC TRICKS! ( LA)
3. A woman went from a size 22 to a size 10 and hated it
4. America’s got talent (YT)
5. This pig had a very rough start, but now he’s living LARGE and gets to travel all over. Recent destinations include: Times Square, Vegas, and Hollywood. NBD.

Amy Wang:

1. Angelina Jolie’s complete red carpet evolution in photos
2. Amanda Glazer was working in the Harvard Math Department common room when an administrator asked her to leave.
3. dogecore. cool dogs for slightly less cool humans™
4. Lmao Mommy
5. Reddit philosophy starter pack

Dave Gershgorn:

1. Security cameras captured something quite eerie in a deserted corridor of a high school — and now the internet is grasping for an explanation
2. Police released this video showing a group of men shooting two other men and then carjacking a woman and her 11-month-old niece
3. 16 Memes You’ll Find Really Funny Even If You’re Not A Mom [Dave: “I’m not a mom.”]
4. BREAKING: Second Shooter In Vegas Massacre Just ARRESTED – Look Who It Is
5. GOP Leaders Caught Red-Handed Blocking Investigation Into ‘Explosive’ Clinton-Uranium Deal Evidence.

Dave Edwards:

1. Having a smart friend pays off
2. [Oxford comma meme]
3. Ann Coulter: I wish Barbara & Jenna Bush had given this interview during the primaries. Trump wouldn’t have lost a single state [Dave says he’s not into Ann Coulter]
4. FailArmy: Tag someone who isn’t good at math!
5. The cleanest haircut I’ve ever seen.. This is sooo satisfying to watch 😂👌

Mike Murphy:

1. AsianBoss: What Koreans Think Of K-dramas [Mike: “this was posted in january and i don’t even know what a k-drama is.”]
2. Lmao Mommy [again, the video of a doll getting its hair done to various songs]
3. [Video taken from a Key and Peele sketch with the title “When the substitute reads out the register”]
4. Watch the difference between the first time and the recent time getting flu shot of this teenager
5. WHY THE WRONG GUYS ALWAYS APPROACH YOU ??

Ashley Rodriguez:

1. Watch the Skarsgård Sons Show off Their Schlongs
2. OMG, her face when she realizes she’s having twins!
3. Zac Efron is all of us when he meets other celebs and it’s adorable. We’re celebrating his 30th birthday by reviewing his best fanboy moments.
4. BBC One: You know when you get invited to a party and you reeeeaallllly don’t want to go? Imagine how Hillary Clinton felt at Trump’s Inauguration.
5. [A motionless video showing a woman ankle-deep in water that reads: “People who are spiritually minded tend to suffer from anxiety and depression more. But this is because their eyes are open to a world that is in need of repair. They literally have an increased ability to feel the emotions of people around them.”]

Yep, this is exactly what we wanted to spend our time looking at today.