03/27/2024

What to Know About Meta’s ‘Political Content’ Limit

Here's how to turn it off on Instagram

In recent days, Meta has come under fire from social media users startled to discover they’ve been automatically enrolled in a relatively new setting that reduces “political content” on Instagram and Threads, with the company being accused of censorship amid an important global election year.

“This is not okay,” civil rights attorney Scott Hechinger posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Instagram is now trying to suppress political content just months before the next presidential election. Why is Meta attempting to censor the democratic process?” asked Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.

In fact, Meta announced that it was rolling out the setting in a little-noticed February blog post, saying that it wanted to make its platforms “a great experience for everyone” and claiming that it would not filter content from followed accounts but rather would limit its algorithm from “proactively” surfacing political content from unfollowed accounts. The new setting—which users can opt out of—applies to the Feed, Reels, Explore and Suggested Users parts of Instagram and Threads. This comes as Meta has continued to reduce political content on its Facebook platform since 2021.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.