Meta’s new opt-out setting limits visibility of politics on Instagram and Threads


Meta’s executives have been saying for a while that they don’t want to boost posts about politics in their apps. Now, an opt-out setting that limits recommendations of “political content” has been added to Instagram and Threads.
You can find it under your “Content preferences” account settings in Instagram. From there, “Limit political content from people you don’t follow” is enabled by default. The setting applies to Threads as well since that app shares its account system with Instagram.
Meta has framed this new setting as being good for user choice, and the company says it isn’t limiting the reach of political content from accounts people choose to follow. While the change was first announced in early February, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed to The Verge that it began widely rolling out last week. As of Monday, the company hasn’t sent any in-app notifications alerting people to the setting and the fact that it’s on by default.
If you talk to people at Meta about why they’ve soured on recommending politics, you’ll usually hear that they believe most people don’t want to see it put in their feeds. Last year, however, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri was more direct about the company’s motivation in a conversation with me on Threads.
“Politics and hard news are important, I don’t want to imply otherwise,” he said at the time. “But my take is, from a platform’s perspective, any incremental engagement or revenue they might drive is not at all worth the scrutiny, negativity (let’s be honest), or integrity risks that come along with them.”
So, there you have it: Meta doesn’t want the blowback that comes from its role in actively surfacing political content, which it defines as posts about “governments,” “elections,” and “social topics” — an ambiguous term that is likely intended to give lots of wiggle room for what can be included in this policy. If you don’t want Meta making these calls about what it recommends to you, it’s time to change your settings.
Meta’s executives have been saying for a while that they don’t want to boost posts about politics in their apps. Now, an opt-out setting that limits recommendations of “political content” has been added to Instagram and Threads. You can find it under your “Content preferences” account settings in Instagram. From…
Recent Posts
- OpenSSH vulnerabilities could pose huge threat to businesses everywhere
- Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy sets will tell the stories of the games
- All of Chipolo’s Bluetooth trackers are discounted in sitewide sale
- Fortnite: Lawless gets first trailer highlighting the new season’s battle pass roster and the chaos of Crime City
- Chase will start blocking Zelle payments over social media
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010