Politics dominates all Instagram and Threads users

Parent company Meta has announced that Threads and Instagram users will no longer be able to opt out of being shown political content from people they don’t follow.

The firm says this is part of its reorientation towards “free expression” – a move that saw it Abandon fact checkers On Tuesday.

The change will be introduced in the US this week before being expanded globally next week.

Users won’t be able to turn off unwanted political posts, but can choose between three settings – low, standard or high.

Adam Mosseri, the head of both platforms – who has previously said he is opposed to news and political content – ​​says users have “asked to be shown more” of such posts.

But Drew Benvie, chief executive of social media consultancy Battenhall, questioned whether this was correct, saying the real motivation was “changing political winds” in the US, where Donald Trump will soon return to the White House.

“Threads and Instagram were largely considered ‘safe spaces’, especially compared to the turbulent developments on X,” he told the BBC.

He predicted this could drive people to rivals like Bluesky, but said he was also concerned about the impact on people who remain on the Meta platform.

“This week’s changes open up the possibility for large amounts of misinformation to spread rapidly across a user base of more than 2 billion,” he warned.

In 2023, Mr. Mosseri said Threads and Instagram should focus on “amazing communities” like “sports, music, and fashion.”

He said, “Any incremental engagement or revenue they may drive is not worth the scrutiny, negativity (let’s be honest), or integrity risks that come with them.” Wrote in a thread post at that time,

But now he has made a fresh post on this platform explain why That stance was abandoned, saying that “drawing a red line around what is political content and what is not has proven impractical” – and users have called for it to be shown more, not less.

Mr Mosseri said Instagram – which Meta acquired for $1 billion in 2012 – was founded on the values ​​of creativity and “giving anyone a voice”.

He said, “My hope is that this focus on free speech will help us get a little better on that path.” In an Instagram video.

been there a lot of criticism Concerns have been raised about the impact on minority groups of the changes already announced by Meta.

Some users have reacted with disappointment to these latest changes in threads and on Instagram.

“Okay, time to delete the Threads app. It was good while it lasted,” said one Threads user responding to Mr. Mosseri’s post.

On Instagram – where Mr Mosseri said accounts focused on politics now “don’t have to worry about being non-recommended to other users” – some users praised the move, calling it “freedom on the platform”. “A good step in that direction.”

However, many have also expressed concerns about the effect that increasing recommendations of content about social issues and politics could have on misinformation and hate speech.