Last updated on April 8th, 2024 at 10:22 am

The adjustment to Instagram and Threads coincides with the parent company’s decision to discontinue the news tab on Facebook in Australia and the US

Instagram users will encounter less content that Meta categorizes as “political” in their recommendations and feed suggestions unless they actively choose to include it. This change, implemented by the company in the past week, mandates users to navigate to their settings and explicitly opt in to political content through their preferences. Users on the platform first noticed this change in recent days, following an announcement made by the company on 9 February.

The feature was reportedly implemented in the last week. Based on Instagram’s version history in the Apple app store, the most recent update before Monday’s update occurred a week ago.

This change impacts the explore, Reels, and in-feed recommendations, as well as the suggested users that Instagram presents to its users. The company has emphasized that users will still see political content from the accounts they already follow.

Meta has characterized political content as concerning “laws, elections, or social topics,” but has not offered further specifics on what constitutes political content.

The policy applies to both Instagram and Threads. Accounts identified by Meta as posting political content have the option to appeal if they believe the decision to prevent their content from being recommended to users who haven’t opted in is incorrect.

Meta stated in February that its focus is on ensuring that “Instagram and Threads are a great experience for everyone.” The company explained that while it won’t interfere with users’ ability to follow accounts that post political content, it also won’t actively recommend political content from accounts they don’t follow.

A Meta spokesperson referred Guardian Australia to the February blog post. The company plans to implement the change on Facebook at a later date.

Instagram has come under scrutiny for reportedly censoring content related to the Israel-Gaza conflict. Additionally, there has been concern about the perception that Facebook’s feed algorithm has contributed to political polarization worldwide.

However, a study conducted during the 2020 US election found that alterations to the algorithm did not impact people’s political perceptions. This included a change that reduced the amount of political news shown on the platform.

The adjustment on Instagram is part of Meta’s broader move to distance its platforms from political and news content. The company is also set to retire the news tab on Facebook, as it gears up for a legal battle against news publishers and the Australian government over the payment for news content.

The news tab will be phased out in early April in both Australia and the US. Meta announced earlier this month that it would not engage in new agreements with Australian news publishers for the payment of news content on Facebook.

The Albanese government is currently deliberating whether to classify Meta under the 2021 News Media Bargaining Code. This would compel Meta to engage in negotiations with publishers or face fines amounting to up to 10% of its Australian revenue.

Meta contends that currently, less than 3% of the content users interact with on Facebook is news-related.