Instagram’s Sneaky Move to Limit Political Content Outrages Users
Instagram users were blindsided by the platform’s sneaky rollout of a new content-filtering tool limiting political content—a setting the social-media giant made default for many accounts without ever directly informing users.
Outraged users took to X to express shock on Friday, accusing Instagram of actively censoring and suppressing political discussion in a year already rife with political tensions. “The timing of this feature is very suspicious to me,” one Instagram user wrote on X on Friday afternoon. Other social-media users expressed concern over Instagram’s decision in light of an upcoming and heavily consequential presidential election.
People across the political spectrum seemed to believe the change was meant to target their own views: Right-leaning users suggested Meta is attempting to filter “conservative speech only,” while left-leaning users suggested the company is looking to censor pro-Palestinian content related to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.