Instagram users will no longer receive an influx of unwanted political content on their feeds. According to the media, Instagram announced in a blog post that it will refrain from “proactively recommending” political content from accounts that users do not already follow. This policy is also being implemented on Threads, the Twitter-like app launched last summer under the Instagram brand.
“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,” the Meta-owned company said.
Instagram and Threads will provide the users with an option to adjust settings if they wish to continue to see political content. The control will be available at Facebook later on. Instagram defines “political content” as content that could potentially pertain to subjects such as laws, elections, or social issues.
“Our goal is to preserve the ability for people to choose to interact with political content, while respecting each person’s appetite for it,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a post on Threads.
The revised policy to cease recommending political content extends to various sections of Instagram, including Explore, Reels, In-Feed Recommendations, and Suggested Users. Meta has already been decreasing the prominence of political content across its suite of social media platforms, including 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, media reported.
The Instagram blog post highlighted that professional accounts on the platform can review the Account Status setting to determine if their posts qualify for recommendations. This determination is based on whether they have recently shared “political content.” If Instagram has excluded a user’s posts from recommendations, professional users have the option to modify or delete recent posts to restore eligibility. They may also request a review if they disagree with Instagram’s classification.
