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Instagram, Threads to no longer recommend political posts

In response to users wanting to see fewer political posts, Instagram will no longer proactively promote such content.
Instagram, Threads to no longer recommend political posts
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As the 2024 election cycle heats up, Meta said it will no longer actively recommend political content for Instagram and Threads users.

The limited content includes Explore, Reels, In-Feed Recommendations and Suggested Users. 

"We want Instagram and Threads to be a great experience for everyone. If you decide to follow accounts that post political content, we don’t want to get between you and their posts, but we also don’t want to proactively recommend political content from accounts you don’t follow," Mega said. "If political content — potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics — is posted by an account that is not eligible to be recommended, that account’s content can still reach their followers in Feed and Stories."

Meta said there will be controls for users who want to see political content on Threads and Instagram. These controls will also roll out on Facebook at a later date, Meta said. 

SEE MORE: Meta to add 'AI-generated' label to images made by third-party tools

The company said that Facebook, Instagram and Threads users have expressed wanting to see less political content. The company says it has shifted away from ranking political content on Facebook feeds based on engagement. 

"When ranking political content in Facebook Feed, our AI systems consider personalized signals, like survey responses, that help us understand what is informative, meaningful, or worth your time. We also consider how likely people are to provide us with negative feedback on posts about political issues when they appear in Facebook Feed," Meta said. 

Instagram users can also reduce the number of political advertisements they see on the app by doing the following: 

- Click More in the bottom left, then click Settings.

- Click Accounts Center, then click Ad preferences.

- Click Ad topics.

- Click inside the search bar at the top of the page. A drop-down list of ad topics will appear, including Social Issues, Elections or Politics.

- Click Social Issues, Elections or Politics and select See Less.


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