Instagram put up a deleted photo from years ago on my boyfriend‘s account

Long story short, I’ve been super stressed with exams, so my boyfriend took me out on a really nice date to help me unwind. At one point I left my phone in the car, and while he went to grab it, he handed me his phone so I could look at something/have something to do while he gone.

I ended up opening Instagram and went to scroll through reels, but while navigating I accidentally clicked onto his profile. That’s when I saw a picture of him and his ex-girlfriend posted on his page.

Here’s the part that really threw me off: the photo is from 8 years ago, and it was deleted about 7 years ago. He hasn’t had any pictures on his Instagram since he deleted everything back then, and I know for a fact he didn’t have anything archived either.

With everything going on, it honestly upset me even though I know it’s not his fault. But now I’m genuinely confused and concerned.

Why is Instagram randomly bringing back deleted photos from nearly a decade ago and reposting them onto someone’s account?

When he came back, I checked his profile from my own phone and I could see the photo there too, so it wasn’t just a glitch on his device. He felt awful but at the same time was conflicted in feeling such a way cause it’s not like he put that photo back up.

Has this happened to anyone else??