Meta shared on Friday that Instagram will no longer “proactively recommend” political content from accounts that users do not already follow on the platform.
The company shared in a blog post last week that the new policy would also apply to its newer company, Threads. The change comes as Meta wants its users to have a “great experience” on the platforms.
“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,” the post said.
Both apps will now add a setting to let users opt into seeing political content recommendations, but by default, neither platform will promote the content moving forward.
For those curious about Meta’s flagship platform, the post said that Facebook will have a similar control rollout at a later date.
The platforms have defined “political content” as posts “potentially related to things like laws, elections or social topics.”
“Our goal is to preserve the ability for people to choose to interact with political content while respecting each person’s appetite for it,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a post on Threads.
The move from Meta isn’t out of left field, as it’s been deprioritizing political content across its social platforms for some time. The company posted about this on its Transparency Center site.
“People have told us they want to see less political content, so we have spent the last few years refining our approach on Facebook to reduce the amount of political content — including from politicians’ accounts — you see in Feed, Reels, Watch, Groups You Should Join, and Pages You May Like,” the post said.
Accounts curious about whether or not their content will be promoted can check on the app in Account Status.