This is true
In addition, it looks like an algorithm is doing the assignment to categories, it is done according to keyword or keyword in the title

I saw an example of a photo taken of a fruit, The photographer  assigned it to the category FOOD AND DRINK, and because the title of the picture had VINTAGE keyword in it, the image can be viewed in the category VINTAGE and not in the FOOD AND DRINK category.
That's really weird. I have not encountered anything like this before in shutterstock and it messed all images in categories

Hello everyone
I recently noticed that the categories on the shutterstock site have changed, and that the order of the images in each category has changed as well ( popularity)
Also in each category there are images that are not related to it, for example in the abstract category there are pictures that belong to other categories such as objects, nature and so on. looks like a bug.
The change happened a few days ago during last week, and affects my sales.
I did not see that there are discussions on the subject, nor did in the forum of the shutterstock site.
Have you encountered a drop in sales because of the issue?
Many thanks