Instagram’s attempt to quietly limit ‘political content’ is a means of censorship
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Many Instagram users have been shocked by an updated feature released with little heads up, where the platform automatically limits the amount of “political content” shown to users in their feeds and recommendations.
While platforms often notify users directly when making changes to their terms of service, Instagram chose to introduce this policy without any in-app announcements or notifications to its user base. Instead, this rollout was announced only through a blog post on Instagram’s official website on Feb. 9, saying that they would be “extending our existing approach to how we treat political content,” a feature that would also apply to its microblogging app Threads.
This control will also roll out on Facebook sometime soon, according to the blog post.
While Instagram can choose to frame this clandestine move as a way to improve user experience and reduce political polarization, the decision is a form of intentional censorship that would not effectively achieve its desired goal. As popular Instagram influencer Matt Bernstein has rightfully pointed out, “what constitutes ‘political’ content?”
Many social issues are inherently political by association, and the increasing threat of censorship and extremism has threatened the basic existence of many peoples. Some individuals face the politicizing of their bodies, making anything they would say as a form of potentially political content. Many basic issues have been intentionally turned into “political content” under reactionary attacks that threaten their right to achieve equality, be respected or to even exist.
In America, many states have passed laws restricting books, discussions of racial justice, basic LGBTQ+ rights such as healthcare and women’s reproductive rights. These issues, no matter how one tries to label them, have become “political” by default as a direct result of the legislative actions.
As Instagram, like most social media platforms, refuses to share its algorithm and does not specify who determines what content is political, this measure, no matter its intent, would inevitably result in censorship of underprivileged voices that have historically been silenced. .
In February, an investigation by The Markup revealed that hundreds of pro-Palestine users and their content have been intentionally hidden from other users, restricting their reach by hiding comments, deleting captions, suppressing hashtags and limiting views.
Cole Ross | Digital Design Editor
As social media platforms have become a powerful utility in sharing the horrors of the war in Gaza, the announcement undoubtedly raises the question of whether or not this decision was meant to discreetly avoid facing the real, yet uncomfortable reality of the severe humanitarian crisis that has happened as a result of the brutal war.
While Mark Zuckerberg can claim that his platforms are not “arbiters of truth,” Instagram and its own Meta are far from neutral bystanders in the realm of political public discourse. In 2018, a whistleblower revealed to the New York Times that Facebook has secretly worked with a political consulting firm that harvested millions of users’ personal data without authorization and then used this data to create targeted political advertisements during the 2016 United States presidential election.
In 2021, a Wall Street Journal investigation determined that Instagram has consistently used its algorithm to push polarizing content to teenage girls, which is a large percentage of its user base, causing severe mental and physical health issues to many of them, despite internal studies acknowledging the harm of these algorithms.
These incidents demonstrated that Meta continuously kept a flagrant disregard of data privacy policies and allowed for the exploitation of user information for its own benefit, becoming a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Social media’s decentralized nature due to its emphasis on user-generated content is supposed to provide a meaningful voice for people to find community and freely express themselves without fears of intimidation or censure. But Instagram’s decision to quietly restrict a user’s ability to view political content has showcased the undeniable fact that these platforms are led by people who are negligent to the current state of the world.
Leaders like Zuckerberg fail to give deference to the times we are in today, where basic identities can be weaponized as political fodder, and reckoning of injustices are far from close to fruition.
For those who want to continue viewing what Instagram determines as “political content,” tap the three-dash menu on your Instagram app on the top right corner, proceed to the “Settings and activity” section, select “Content preferences,” and then access the “Political content” menu and enable the “Don’t limit” setting.
As the younger generation uses social media platforms prominently and assertively, we need to hold the platforms accountable by actively calling out these changes and the potential consequences, letting them know that social media users are not, and should never be, commodities on a store shelf.
Allen Huang is a second year Media Studies masters student. He can be reached at xhuang49@syr.edu.
