New Delhi: Instagram users can now expect relief from unwanted political content flooding their feeds. According to Variety, Instagram announced in a blog post that it will no longer “proactively recommend” political content from accounts that users have not already followed. This policy extends to Threads, the Twitter-like app introduced last summer under the Instagram brand.
The Meta-owned company said “We want Instagram and Threads to be a great experience for everyone. If you decide to follow accounts that post political content, we don’t want to get between you and their posts, but we also don’t want to proactively recommend political content from accounts you don’t follow,”. (Also Read: OpenAI Introduces Watermarking For AI-Generated Images Via DALL-E 3; Check Details)
Both apps will introduce a setting that allows users who wish to continue seeing political content recommendations to opt-in. According to the post, a similar control will be implemented on Facebook at a later time. Instagram defines “political content” as content potentially associated with topics such as laws, elections, or social issues. (Also Read: Tech Layoffs Surges By 136% In 2024; Is AI To Blame? Check What Study Claims)
“Our goal is to preserve the ability for people to choose to interact with political content, while respecting each person’s appetite for it,” Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, stated in a post on Threads.
The updated policy to discontinue recommending political content applies to areas of Instagram including Explore, Reels, In-Feed Recommendations and Suggested Users. Meta has already been deprioritising political content across its social apps, including on Facebook.
“People have told us they want to see less political content, so we have spent the last few years refining our approach on Facebook to reduce the amount of political content – including from politicians’ accounts – you see in Feed, Reels, Watch, Groups You Should Join, and Pages You May Like,” the company explained in a post on its Transparency Center site, Variety reported.
The Instagram blog post noted that professional accounts on the app can check the Account Status setting to see if their posts are eligible to be recommended — based on whether they recently posted “political content.” If Instagram has blocked an account’s posts from recommendations, pro users may edit or remove recent posts to regain eligibility or request a review if they disagree with Instagram’s designation. (With ANI Inputs)