Has Instagram Made It Harder to Discover Smaller Creators?

I used to find new Instagram accounts almost every time I scrolled through Explore.

Now it feels like I keep seeing the same big creators over and over again.

Even when I search for content in my niche, the recommendations don't seem very diverse anymore.

I'm sure there are thousands of talented smaller creators out there, but they rarely appear on my feed.

Has anyone else noticed this, or is my Explore page just stuck showing the same accounts repeatedly?