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Instagram will no longer recommend political content on your feed, here’s why

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Tired of election memes? Instagram is offering a political detox. The platform is shaking things up by banning recommendations for political content from accounts you don’t follow. This means no more surprise election memes or unsolicited opinions popping up in your carefully curated feed. Taking to its blog post on Friday, the Meta-owned social media app said it is making it ‘don’t want to recommend political content proactively’ and if you still want to see them then ‘you will have control to see them.’

FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Instagram logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo(REUTERS)
FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Instagram logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo(REUTERS)

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Instagram limits political content recommendations

“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.” said the social media giant in a lengthy post on Friday. Instagram and Threads will now only actively promote political content that is posted by accounts that users already follow. This is a new standard.

The company further stated, “These recommendations updates apply to public accounts and in places where we recommend content such as Explore, Reels, In-Feed Recommendations and Suggested Users – it doesn’t change how we show people content from accounts they choose to follow.”

What kind of political content Instagram will stop recommending

The upcoming changes might disappoint some political content creators as it could make it harder for their posts to go viral. “If political content – potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics – is posted by an account that is not eligible to be recommended, that account’s content can still reach their followers in Feed and Stories.”

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How to check your political posts’ eligibility

To determine whether they fit the requirements for recommendations, professional Instagram accounts can use Account Status, which analyzes their most recent political posts. They can then choose to edit or remove these posts, request a review if they disagree with the evaluation, or postpone sharing political content in order to be eligible for recommendations again.

Facebook to roll out the same feature soon

There’s currently no indication regarding whether users will need to update the app to experience these forthcoming changes. As per the company, this change, taking effect immediately, aims to enhance user control over their feed experience and potentially reduce exposure to unfamiliar political viewpoints. Additionally, Facebook will introduce the same control at a later time, as mentioned in the post. “If people still want to see this type of political content on Threads and Instagram recommendation surfaces, there will be a control for people to choose to see it. This control will also roll out on Facebook at a later date.”

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