Instagram and Threads users will see less of what their parent company, Meta, defines as "political content" in their recommendations and feed suggestions unless they opt into it. Although the change won't affect the content from accounts that someone follows, the "extraordinary move" will still have "far-reaching and significant consequences for the public discourse," said CNN.Â
What has Meta done? "If you decide to follow accounts that post political content, we don't want to get between you and their posts," Meta said in a blog post. "But we also don't want to proactively recommend political content from accounts you don't follow."Â
Why has it done this? In 2023, following the January 6 Capitol insurrection in Washington, Meta wanted to "scale back how much political content it showed users," said The Wall Street Journal. It came in the wake of widespread criticism that its platforms spread disinformation and hate speech. In a conversation on Threads with The Verge's Alex Heath last year, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri admitted that although "politics and hard news are important," any "incremental engagement or revenue they might drive is not at all worth the scrutiny, negativity (let's be honest) or integrity risks that come along with them."Â
What has the reaction been? The definition of political content is "vague," said Time. The move has "quickly raised alarm among many who questioned the scope and rationale in the run-up to a high-stakes election," said CNN.Â
Political content was still "dominating" Threads after President Joe Biden's State of the Union address in early March, said TechCrunch. If users have a "real-time platform" where they can "dash off quick reactions as short, text posts, they're likely going to use that platform to talk about whatever the news of the day happens to be."Â
Some users believe Meta is "actively muzzling civic action," with "widespread allegations of a particular crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices," said Time. But "on balance, removing politics entirely makes sense," said Social Media Today. Since implementing content recommendations, Facebook and Instagram usage has "increased," with "up to 40%" of the content that users are shown in the app now coming through that route. This suggests people are "responding well to entertainment-based content," while "politics brings more headaches." |