How do I allow political content on Instagram? Follow these steps to fix your settings
Instagram is now limiting by default the suggested political content that appears on the social media app. But if you want to turn off the limit, there's a simple way to do it.
Instagram automatically set the "political content" control to "limit" on user accounts, which means the AI system the platform uses to personalize users' content stopped "proactively" recommending political content from accounts that people don't follow. Yet, the new limit was not expected to change how people see content from accounts they are already following.
However, the new automatic setting changes how Instagram users see political content on their feeds, reels, suggested accounts, explore pages and notifications. Instagram defines political content as "likely to mention governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and/or society at large." The limits were also expected to impact Thread users.
Many users noticed the new feature on the popular social media service on Friday, outraging many content consumers and creators who argued the limits are unnecessary and a threat to freedom of speech, which they say could be pivotal during an election year and in the wake of a potential TikTok ban in the U.S.
If you don't want the content you see to be restricted by the new feature, there's an easy way to turn it off. Here's how.
How do I turn off Instagram's new limits?
Open the Instagram app.
Tap your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
Tap the menu (three horizontal lines) in the top right.
Scroll down to Content Preferences, tap it and then tap Political Content.
Select "Don't limit political content from people you don't follow" to see more political or social topics in your suggested content, or select "Limit political content from people you don't follow" to see less political or social topics in your suggested content.
Tap Confirm.
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Why is Instagram limiting political content?
The new limits come as part of an initiative announced last month by Meta, the parent company that owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, among other products.
According to Meta, social media users provided input that they want to see less political content, and they say the new limits are a response to that.
Instagram said in an announcement last month that it is committed to providing "a great experience for everyone." Although the new limit was set by default, Instagram said it wanted to give users control to keep having political posts recommended to them.
"We’re always working to improve our recommendation systems and give people control so we can connect people with the most relevant posts to them," the company said.
The control to remove limits on political content was also expected to be implemented on Facebook at a later date.
Reporter Laura Daniella Sepulveda covers breaking news for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at laura.sepulveda@gannett.com or on Twitter @lauradaniella_s.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why is Instagram automatically limiting political content?
