Instagram announced that it “accidentally” changed user default settings to restrict political content ahead of Thursday’s presidential debate.
This change applies to all users, even if you previously turned off this setting.
CNN (CNN) will host the first presidential debate this Thursday (June 27) in Atlanta, Georgia. Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will host.
Hill reports:
Several Instagram users noticed that their settings had been changed to restrict political content, an option parent company Meta created in February ahead of Thursday’s first debate of 2024 between President Joe Biden and former President Trump.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in response to a post by Democratic strategist Keith Edwards on Threads, another Meta app, that it would reset users’ exposure to political content. The limitation is “a bug that shouldn’t happen” and the company is working to fix it.
On February 9, Meta announced that Instagram and Threads would soon begin restricting political content. The announcement does not indicate that all users’ settings will be changed to limited political presets.
In March, Instagram changed its algorithm settings to limit political content by default. This only applies to content from users you don’t follow on the platform.
If you still wish to see political content, you must go into Settings and manually change your settings by clicking “Content Preferences,” then “Political Content,” and selecting “No restrictions.”
The second debate will be hosted by ABC News in September. The network has not yet announced a moderator for the debate.
