Instagram removes feature for US users before election day
31 October, 2020
With just a couple of days to go until the US election, Instagram users in the United States might have noticed different things about their account.
That's for the reason that popular image sharing platform has temporarily paused "Recent" search listings on accounts located in the US.
The Facebook-owned platform announced your choice on Twitter.
Instagram said that it was temporarily removing the “Recent” tab from hashtag pages in a bid to "reduce the real-time spread of potentially harmful content that could pop-up around the election."
Instagram's recent tab shows the most recent content on the website labelled with a particular hashtag, whether or not the content is pertinent to this issue or not.
The five-day suspension of the service will apply to all hashtags, and not just those regarding the election. It's an attempt by the social media giant to limit how quickly misinformation can spread.
Some users weren't happy about the move. One Twitter user said it could negatively impact smaller businesses and artists.
However, researchers have previously warned that automated amplification can result in the rapid spread of misinformation on the social media platform.
By removing the newest categorisation, Instagram will show users "Top" results only. They are predicated on engagement and relevance and so are less easily manipulated than listings beneath the "Recent" tab.
The social media company previously said it could take several measures to attempt to fight misinformation during the 2020 election.
Four years ago, when Trump first won the Presidency, Instagram's parent company Facebook was accused of collecting data on social media users without their consent, and using this private information to target persons for political advertising.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com