Meta is changing the way political content is recommended on Instagram and Threads.
According to a new blog post by Instagram, and echoed by its head, Adam Mosseri, on Threads, the two platforms will no longer show users content about politics from accounts they don’t follow, unless they opt-in to see it.
Post by @mosseriView on Threads
According to Mosseri, “over the next few weeks,” the two platforms will improve their recommendation algorithm to avoid content about politics in places where recommended content shows up, like Explore, Reels, in-feed recommendations and Suggested Users.
The blog post suggests that Instagram and Threads will determine if a piece of content is political based on whether it relates to things like laws, elections, or social topics.
He also added that these recommendation updates will only apply to public accounts and only in places where Instagram and Threads recommend content.
If you follow users or organizations that post political content, you will continue to see their posts as normal.
On the other hand, users who want to discover political content from users they don’t follow in places where recommended content shows up will be able to opt in. The blog post also indicates that while the changes are rolling out to Instagram and Threads “over the next few weeks,” similar controls will also roll out on Facebook “at a later date.”
“Our goal is to preserve the ability for people to choose to interact with political content, while respecting each person’s appetite for it,” wrote Mosseri.
You can learn more about the upcoming change here.
Image credit: Instagram
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