Meta limits political content recommendations on Instagram and Threads

Meta’s relationship with politics and political content on the platforms it owns has been discussed for many years. The company is often accused of featuring content designed to annoy users in the name of engagement. Meta, which has made efforts to get rid of this label in recent years, now allows the restriction of algorithmically recommended political content on Instagram and Threads.

Meta defines political content as “talking about governments, elections, or social issues that most likely affect a group of people and/or society.” Within the scope of this definition, it can be said that it is possible to classify everything as political content. According to the information provided by the company to The Verge, the setting to limit political content will be offered to users as “on by default”.

The announcement of this feature was made last month. In the statement at that time, it was stated that Instagram and Threads aimed to provide “a great experience for everyone” and the following statements were used: “If you decide to follow accounts that post political content, we do not want to come between you and their posts, but at the same time, we will proactively encourage political content from accounts you do not follow.” “We don’t want to suggest it either.”

Essentially, if you turn this feature on, the visibility of political content through Explore, Reels, in-stream recommendations, and suggested users will be limited. Political posts from accounts you follow will be visible in your feed as usual.

Meta offers Instagram and Threads users the opportunity to turn off this setting.

Users will be able to check whether this feature has reached their accounts and turn it off via Instagram’s settings if they wish. When users go to the recommended content, a tab called political content will appear. Clicking here will show you two options: Limit or do not limit political content on accounts you do not follow.

However, Meta emphasizes that choosing this restriction does not mean a definitive embargo of political content on Instagram and Threads. The company did not forget to make a note saying, “You may see fewer political or social issues in your recommended content.” It is worth noting that the preferred setting here will be valid for both Instagram and Threads.