File – Meta’s new app Threads is displayed on a smartphone in New York, Thursday, July 6, 2023. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Threads post, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023, that a web version of the app will be rolling out over the next few days. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
(NewsNation) — Instagram and Threads users voiced concerns Wednesday when the platforms appeared to limit the political content users see when they open the apps, despite their personal settings.
A Meta spokesperson responded on Threads, saying the change wasn’t intentional.
Journalists and political figures took to social media Wednesday encouraging others to check their political content settings on Instagram.
The platform began rolling out changes in March, which included more personalized restrictions surrounding political content on Meta-owned Instagram and Threads. Users can adjust the political posts they interact with on Instagram under the content preferences section in their settings. That encompasses content that mentions “governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and/or society at large,” according to Meta.
The setting allows users to limit the political content they see from accounts they don’t follow or opt-in to continue seeing such posts in their suggested content. Making the selection once should do the trick but users reported needing to adjust their settings each time they closed and reopened the app on Wednesday.
“This was an error and should not have happened,” the spokesperson said. “We’re working on getting it fixed.”
English (United States) ·