During a speech in the US Senate about the impact of Instagram addiction on young people, CEO Adam Mosseri was asked if he thought he should be able to access the app without “manipulating it with algorithms.”
The CEO responded that the company is developing a way for users to return to the feed in chronological order. “We believe in more transparency and accountability, and we believe in more control. That is why we are working on a timeline version that we hope to launch next year, ”he said.
Recall that it was in 2016 that the order of posts in Instagram feeds ceased to be chronological. Since then, the publications that have emerged have been selected by an artificial intelligence algorithm that adapts to the behavior and tastes of each user, which ultimately contributes to the development of addiction.
A Senate hearing followed Francis Haugen’s conviction of Washington Post, a former employee of Facebook and the parent company of WhatsApp, now known as Meta.
Haugen revealed internal documents showing that Facebook knows its platform is being used to spread fake news and Instagram’s nefarious impact on young people, especially girls’ self-esteem, and that he is doing nothing to combat these issues.
Ahead of this hearing, Instagram released a statement signed by Adam Mosseri, in which he states that he is “working to keep the young people on the app safe.” Among other things, the leader of the social network said that “parents and educators will be able to see how much time their children spend on Instagram and set limits for use.” This year, due to the news, WP Meta announced that it was suspending the creation of Instagram for kids only.
Wanting to know more about the company’s plans in this direction, Mosseri noted that Instagram has been experimenting with various ways over the years to offer users more control over their experience. One idea he tested publicly was called Favorites, which allowed users to choose a subset of people whose accounts they would like to see at the top of their feeds. Another idea the company has been working on is a chronological version of Instagram, Mosseri said.
“I wish I had a specific month to tell you right now, but now we are targeting the first quarter of next year,” Mosseri said of when the chronological version will be presented to the public.
Instagram switcher for algorithmic feedback in 2016 was a decision that sparked controversy. Although filtered feeds were becoming the norm on social media at the time as they improved engagement rates, many users were unhappy with the change. Instagram even went as far as agreeing to add new posts to its algorithmic feed. due to user feedback in subsequent years after the launch of the new feed.
