Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has announced a significant policy change regarding the visibility of political content on its platforms Instagram and Threads. In a statement made by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri via a Threads post on Friday, it was revealed that the company will no longer actively promote political content to users by default.
Mosseri clarified that while users will still encounter political posts from accounts they follow, the apps will cease to “proactively amplify” such content. This adjustment, slated to take effect “in the next few weeks,” will impact public accounts where Meta’s algorithm typically recommends content. Specifically, platforms like Instagram’s Reels and Explore, as well as suggested users on Threads, will no longer feature political content as part of their proactive recommendations.
“In the next few weeks, we will be enhancing our methods to avoid recommending political content on surfaces like Explore, Reels, and Suggested Users across both Instagram and Threads,” stated Mosseri.
To accommodate users who wish to continue viewing political content on these platforms, Meta has introduced a new control feature. Users can access this feature by navigating to the Suggested content tab and selecting Political content. From there, they can opt for either the ‘Don’t Limit’ or ‘Limit’ options based on their preferences.
This control functionality is set to be implemented on Facebook at a later date, Meta confirmed.
Furthermore, Meta disclosed that Professional accounts on Instagram will have the ability to monitor their eligibility for content recommendation based on recent political postings. Through the Account Status feature, these users can review and amend recent posts, request a review if they dispute Meta’s decision, or temporarily refrain from posting political content to regain eligibility for recommendation.
Source: Business Today
