A crossposted Instagram post refers to content published natively on Instagram and automatically shared to Facebook. When this occurs, a separate Facebook post is created as a copy of the original Instagram post.
Instagram supports crossposting for both Reels and non-Reels posts. However, the API returns inconsistent values for the “Views” metric depending on the post type.
Note: this discrepancy does not occur when using Social Media Management to post.
Current Instagram API behavior
Reels
The “Views” metric includes views from Instagram only.
This remains true even if the Reel is crossposted to Facebook.
Non-Reels Posts
The “Views” metric includes views from both Instagram and Facebook when the post is crossposted.
As a result, Facebook views are aggregated into the Instagram post’s “Views” metric.
Client impact in Measure dashboards
This inconsistency creates reporting issues in Measure:
1. If only the Instagram channel is selected:
For crossposted non-Reels posts, Facebook views are included in the Instagram post’s view count.
This inflates Instagram performance metrics.
2. If both Facebook and Instagram channels are selected:
We display both the Facebook post and the Instagram post separately.
For non-Reels posts, Facebook views are effectively counted twice:
Once in the Facebook post
Once within the Instagram post’s aggregated view metric
This leads to double counting and potential misinterpretation of performance data.
Technical limitation
Currently, there is no reliable way via the API to:
Programmatically link the Instagram post and its corresponding Facebook post, and
Subtract Facebook views from the Instagram non-Reels post.
This prevents us from correcting the discrepancy on our side.
Ongoing efforts
A support ticket has been opened with Meta to report this inconsistency.
We are awaiting clarification or a fix from their side.
We will also explore escalating the issue through partnership channels to accelerate resolution.