Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri told reporters on Thursday that without content ranking algorithms, Instagram will be a far less engaging, less interesting experience for users. Mosseri also said that eliminating algorithms would have a negative impact on creators who rely on the app to reach an audience.
The comments came after the Australian government announced a new plan to implement laws that will restrict the use of engagement-driven algorithms in social media apps. The government hopes that by reducing the influence of algorithmic amplification, that will help to address concerns related to the promotion of harmful content as well as social media addiction.
The new regulations, which are currently in the consultation phase, could eventually see Australian social media users reverted to a chronological timeline of posts from people and pages they follow.
Which Meta, unsurprisingly, sees as a negative move.
As reported by The Guardian, Mosseri held a briefing with Australian journalists this week to launch a new “Algo Confessions” series in the country. The series will feature celebrities discussing how algorithms shape their experiences and help them explore their interests.
As part of the briefing, Mosseri also talked about the concerns relatd algorithmic amplification, without specifically mentioning Australia’s proposed changes to restrict algorithm usage.
As per Mosseri: “What happens [without algorithms] is people become a bit less interested in the experience and they use [Instagram] a lot less, which then means that there’s less reach to go around and people start to get more and more mad about the fact that their reach is going down because the overall pie gets smaller.”
Mosseri made this same point in a recent post on his own Instagram account about content ranking.
“If we do not rank content, we know that the feed for the consumer gets overrun with content from accounts that post the most often, and businesses and brands post a lot more than creators and people who post a lot more than just your friends, and so Instagram moves to a much less friend-oriented place and a much less creator-oriented place, and towards a much more business, news publisher-oriented place,” Mosseri said.
He added that when Instagram doesn’t rank content, people see less overall content on Instagram, and reach for creators is also, inevitably, reduced.
So there will be negative impacts for the creator economy, and brand approaches in the app.
But the concerns noted by Mosseri regarding reduced engagement and decreased usage of Instagram could actually be part of the aim of any regulations designed to address addictive social media use.
If people are using Instagram less, that would likely align with a key element of these proposed regulations, while, showing people fewer posts overall would also mean less harmful exposure. As such, Mosseri’s warnings may not actually dissuade regulators looking to assess the impacts of such restrictions.
Mosseri also said that only a “vocal minority” of social media users want to revert to chronological feeds, and that if this change is enacted, people will regret it.
But again, Mosseri is speaking from a business perspective, and from the viewpoint of someone who has a significant vested interest in making Instagram a valuable platform for advanced connection.
It’s unlikely that Australian authorities view the app in the same way.
