Instagram's head says engagement falls by half without the algorithm
5 days ago
- Adam Mosseri warns users who disable Instagram's recommendation system experience up to 50% lower engagement and 'cliff' drop in satisfaction.
- Australia is consulting on legislation requiring platforms to prompt users to turn off ranking algorithms.
- Mosseri argues chronological feeds become overwhelmed with content from companies, brands, and publishers, causing users to miss content and spend less time on the platform.
- The objection is not that chronological feeds harm users, but that they reduce engagement and time spent, which the Australian bill aims to reduce.
- The point about brands and publishers is valid; a time-ordered feed fills with frequent posters, typically not friends, a design problem Instagram created by rewarding volume posting.
- Meta presents increased time on Instagram via AI as a success, but Mosseri now implies less time is harmful, inconsistent unless time is inherently good for users, a premise the bill rejects and a jury is weighing.
- Instagram plans to integrate algorithm customization as a core feature, while Australia proposes to require a prompt offering such control, differing only on who initiates and discoverability.
- Instagram's 2022 return to chronological feeds, due to U.S. pressure, required manual selection each time, teaching that unsurfaced rights are ineffective, underpinning the bill's prompting requirement.
- Missing from Mosseri's data are wellbeing, regret, and post-use feelings metrics, which Meta's research covers; a 50% engagement drop shows product change but not user harm, the bill's focus.
- Mosseri distinguishes colloquial vs. clinical addiction, a defensible yet litigation-aware stance amid legal scrutiny.
- Europe's DSA Article 38 (2023) requires non-profiling feed options with modest adoption, now reinterpreted as hiding the option given Mosseri's 50% drop figure, suggesting not disinterest but poor visibility.