With Over 60 Countries Voting In 2024, Instagram To Reduce Showing Political Content
2024 will be the year of elections -- with over 60 countries and 4 billion people casting votes to choose the new governments in their respective countries.
This includes the world's largest democratic exercise -- the general elections in India and the US Presidential election, scheduled for later this year.
Elections fought on social media
And unlike ever in the past election battles, at least the campaign side of it will be fought on social media. That is the reason why you might have started seeing a lot more political content on your social media feeds these days.
But Meta-owned Instagram has decided to take a step back and show less political content to its users.
Instagram, Threads to have less political content
Meta, previously known as Facebook said it will reduce the prominence of political posts on Instagram and Threads.
"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," Meta said in a blog.
Political content not going away
This, however, doesn't mean that political content is going away from the platforms, but will still be available to those looking for it.
Both apps will add a setting to let users who still want to see political content recommendations opt to do so -- and, according to the post, the same control will roll out on Facebook at a later date.?
What is political content
Instagram defines "political content" as "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.
Meta deprioritising political content
Meta has already been deprioritising political content across its social apps, including on Facebook.?
"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 company explained in a post on its Transparency Center site.
It should be noted that Meta, then known as Facebook was embroiled in a massive controversy around its role in elections, after the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal surfaced, where it was exposed that data collected from the platform was used to push a certain political narrative.
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