Recommended Content in Instagram
The rating
Our assessment of how this product aligns with each of The Institute’s eight AI Principles. Full detail in the Evaluation section below.
AI Principles
Learn more about all recommendation systems in social media here.
Instagram's recommendation system is the core AI engine behind what you see in your feed, the Explore tab, Reels, and Instagram Stories. Instagram doesn't have just one AI recommender, but a variety of algorithms, classifiers, and processes for different parts of Instagram.
Combined, these systems are how Instagram automates what they show you, from relevant content from your particular connections (the friends, accounts, Groups, and Pages you've chosen to follow), as well as the billions of pieces of content that are outside of your network of connections (like advertisements and content created by other users, which platforms call "user-generated content" or "UGC").
All users of Instagram are users of their recommendation systems. There is no way to opt out, and Instagram's recommenders have had a huge impact on how much time people spend on the platform:
In a 2022 earnings call, Instagram's owner Meta reported seeing a 30% increase in engagement on Instagram Reels, and attributed much of this to their new AI recommendation algorithms.
As of June 2023, "more than 20% of content in a person's Facebook and Instagram feeds is now recommended by AI from people, groups, or accounts they don't follow." These models have a huge impact on engagement and time spent on the applications.
In April 2024, Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg reported that 50% of what users see on Instagram is AI recommended.
Note: Instagram is owned by Meta, which also owns Facebook, Threads, and WhatsApp. This review is focused on Instagram, and specifically the AI recommender systems it uses. At times we refer to Meta and other apps.
Recommended content can lead users to spend more time on Instagram than they realize, making it harder to take breaks. Because the feed no longer ends Instagram continually suggests new posts, which can keep users, especially younger ones, engaged for longer than they may intend.
Instagram’s recommendation system can surface content that is risky or harmful. The system can suggest harmful or unsuitable material, including content that raises child safety concerns, such as accounts that guide users to content sexualizing children or age-inappropriate videos.
Recommended content can limit exposure to diverse perspectives and reinforce narrow viewpoints. By repeatedly showing users posts similar to what they already engage with, the system can create echo chambers that reduce exposure to different ideas and contribute to polarization.
Instagram’s recommended content is the system that chooses posts, videos, and stories it believes will keep a user interested and engaged. Instagram looks at a variety of signals, such as basic information about a post or a user’s interaction history, to suggest relevant, personalized content.
Recommended content can help users discover new interests, communities, and ideas, yet risks remain. Some features, especially for teens, can offer additional layers of support and healthier habits when using the app, such as default privacy settings, message limits, time reminders, and sleep mode.
What Recommended Content in Instagram gets right
Learn what all recommendation systems in social media do best.
Recommended content on Instagram can help you connect with friends and new people around shared interests, and can be a way for you to learn new things. They can be a great way to find fun content that you just can't help but like and share with others.
On September 17, 2024, a day before a pair of child online safety bills were passed out of the U.S. House's Energy and Commerce Committee, Meta announced Teen Accounts on Instagram. Features of teen accounts (many of which were not new, but previously required setting changes) include: teen accounts set to private by default, restrictions on messaging and content, time limit reminders, and sleep mode (no notifications from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.). It is our opinion that these features should have been implemented long ago. Importantly, none of these features address the harms that stem from Instagram's recommenders.
Where it falls short
Learn about the risks common to all recommendation systems in social media.
. Instagram actually used to have a stopping point. Before these recommender systems were in place, once you had seen everything shared by your friends, Instagram's main feed would display the message "you're all caught up" and your feed would stop. Now, through the addition of recommenders and other features, Instagram's various feeds are now bottomless streams of content designed to keep you engaged and using the platform more often and for longer periods of time.
- Note: Teen users are now shown a "you're all caught up" message once they have scrolled through every post on their feed from the last two days. They can continue scrolling, but this message can help nudge them to take a break. It is also notable that we could only find reference to this feature in the downloadable "Parent's Guide to Instagram."
- Investigations by the Wall Street Journal, Stanford University's Cyber Policy Center, and University of Massachusetts Amherst's Rescue Lab show that Instagram's recommendation systems "[connect] pedophiles and [guide] them to content sellers." When researchers set up a test account and viewed content shared by these networks, they were immediately recommended more accounts to follow. As the WSJ reports: "Following just a handful of these recommendations was enough to flood a test account with content that sexualizes children."
- The Wall Street Journal also published a report showing that Instagram Reels pushes "doses of salacious content" to adult accounts that mostly follow children, "including risqué footage of children as well as overtly sexual adult videos."
In October 2023, 41 U.S. states and the District of Columbia sued Meta, "alleging that the tech giant harms children by building addictive features into Instagram and Facebook." This lawsuit details many complaints about Instagram's recommendation systems. While the original filing was heavily redacted, Meta agreed to lift most of the redactions in November 2023. This newer complaint makes public what the U.S. states claim is "evidence that the company routinely ignores reports of underage users" and that "Meta routinely obtains actual knowledge that users on Instagram and Facebook are under 13 years old; and Meta targets children as users of Instagram and Facebook." See more in our AI Principles assessment below for Use Data Responsibly.
Instagram's recommenders can create filter bubbles that amplify extremist content and hate speech, as well as misinformation, leading to real-world harm. This can limit exposure to diverse perspectives and viewpoints, hindering meaningful discourse and fostering polarization.
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