Adam Mosseri, chief executive of Instagram, has argued that eliminating algorithmic curation would result in a diminished user experience, characterized by an influx of branded material and reduced time spent on the platform. He acknowledged that the current system often feels opaque to consumers but emphasized that the company is working to provide greater transparency and control.
These remarks coincide with proposals from the Australian government to grant users the ability to opt out of algorithmic feeds. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday that legislation would require social media companies to offer individuals a choice between seeing content recommended by algorithms or viewing a reverse-chronological feed of posts from accounts they follow.
In addition to the algorithmic changes, the Labor Party intends to introduce a broader set of regulations aimed at mitigating online harm across social media sites.
Opting out sounds nice in theory, but I really don’t want my feed flooded with sponsored posts from brands I barely follow.
Honestly, the chronological feed was terrible. Just let them keep their creepy algorithm unless they show us how it actually works first.