As the election cycle heats up, Instagram and Threads will be cooling down the amount of political content entering many users’ feeds. These changes, which limit the reach of political content from accounts users don’t already follow, are enacted by default. If you’re already wondering how to get that kind of content back into your feed, you can follow our guide on changing Instagram’s political settings here.
Meta has made an effort to decrease the reach of news and political content across its platforms, especially in regards to content that is algorithmically recommended versus being surfaced from a direct connection to an individual or account. Threads will host, but not “amplify” news, per remarks from its head Adam Mosseri last year. And Facebook is shutting down the News Tab as it continues to block news content in Canada in an ongoing dispute with legislation requiring platforms to pay publishers for content.
And which posts and topics will Instagram actually deem to be political? The answer, as expected, is both far-reaching and vague, covering anything “potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics.” As for why these changes have gone into effect, and what it says about Meta’s priorities across its wide-ranging social empire, well, you’ll have to give today’s episode a look.
