Threads and Instagram users will no longer be able to opt out of being shown political content from people they do not follow, parent company Meta has announced.
The head of the platforms Adam Mosseri said it followed Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg’s reorienting the company towards “free expression” – a move that saw it ditch fact checkers on Tuesday.
Mr Mosseri said Meta would begin recommending political content in a “responsible and personalised way” from this week in the US, and globally from next week.
It represents a U-turn on his previous stance on news and political content on Threads, which he said in 2023 the platform would not “do anything to encourage”.
“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,” he wrote in a Threads post at the time.
But on Wednesday, he said it had “proven impractical to draw a red line around what is and is not political content” – and users have asked to be shown more, not less, of this content than in years prior.
A setting that currently allows Threads and Instagram users to toggle political content recommendations on or off will be changed to provide three options for how much they are shown – less, standard and more.
This will opt users in to seeing a “standard” amount by default.
Mr Mosseri said Instagram – which Meta acquired for $1bn in 2012 – was founded upon the values of creativity and “giving anybody a voice”.
“My hope is that this focus on free speech is going to help us do even a bit better along that path,” he said in an Instagram video.
There has been considerable criticism of the changes Meta has already announced, with concerns expressed about the impact on minority groups.
The company has also been accused of pandering to the incoming Trump administration, which has previously been very critical of Meta and Mr Zuckerberg.
Some users have also reacted to these latest changes on Threads and Instagram with dismay.
“Well, time to delete the Threads app. It was nice while it lasted,” said one Threads user responding to Mr Mosseri’s posts.
On Instagram – where Mr Mosseri said accounts focused on politics now “don’t have to worry about becoming non-recommendable” to other users – some users praised the move as “a good step towards the freedom on the platform”.
Many have also, however, expressed concern about the effect that increasing content recommendations about social issues and politics could have on amplifying misinformation and hate speech.