Meta doesn’t want its new Threads app to become another Twitter, full of heated political debate and the ensuing toxicity that comes with it. In today’s announcement, the company detailed how it will approach recommending political content on both Instagram and its sister app, Threads, a competitor to Elon Musk’s X. In short, it will no longer push policy on users. Similar to Facebook’s existing Meta policies, Instagram and Threads’ recommendation engines will now no longer proactively recommend political posts to users by default, the company said Friday.
On Facebook, Meta has reduced the amount of political content that appears in Feed (formerly News Feed), Reels, Facebook Watch (video), Groups you should join, and Pages you might like suggestions. Now, it’s announcing that this same approach will be coming to Instagram and Reels in the months leading up to the 2024 US election.
In a statement shared on Instagram blog and Meta Transparency Center, the company said the changes to the Instagram app will affect areas like Instagram Reels and Instagram Explore, as well as In-Feed Suggestions on both Instagram and Threads. With this latest move, Meta is significantly differentiating its new app from Twitter, now called X.
Twitter has often been the home of political dialogue, an extension of its function as a real-time news network. But Instagram has distanced Threads from news, having delayed adding a “trends” feature like X offers. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri also specifically said in October that Threads would not “enhance news” on its platform .
To be clear, the upcoming Meta changes affect Instagram’s role in recommending content, but not how it shows content from accounts users already follow, the company said. For example, if an account that is not eligible for a proposal posts political content, such as news about elections, laws, or other social issues, that account’s content will still reach its followers through Stream and Stories. It just wouldn’t be recommended as a precaution to non-fans.
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Instagram says business accounts will be able to use one Account status function to check their current eligibility status and can choose to edit or remove posts from this page. They can also request a review if they disagree with Instagram’s decision on a piece of content, or they can choose to stop posting content to become eligible for recommendation again. (The company did not say how long he would need to abstain from political office to be eligible again, however.)
Additionally, users who want political content to be suggested will be able to turn it on in their Settings on both Instagram and Threads. Facebook will also gain similar control at some point in the future.
Removing politics from recommendation surfaces and forcing users to change it again if they want to see it are changes that come after years of Meta taking the blame for much of the world’s political unrest. Whether this is to be was held responsible for the genocide in Myanmar or for the January 6th attack on the Capitol here in the US., Meta’s social networking apps have been used to fuel hate and misinformation, leading to violence. Clearly, the company wants to put more distance between what it pushes to its users through algorithms and the kind of content that could become problematic at scale.
The move could also help calm lawmakers weighing how to regulate Big Tech companies that have gained monopoly power.
Meta says the changes will roll out to Instagram and Threads users “slowly over time to get it right,” without offering a specific date when they’ll be fully available to everyone.
