Instagram accidentally changed users’ settings to automatically limit political content, even though those users had turned the option off, the company confirmed Thursday.
Several Instagram users spoke out after noticing their settings had been changed to limit political content, an option created by parent company Meta in February ahead of Thursday’s first debate of 2024 between President Biden and former President Trump.
In a response to a post from Democratic strategist Keith Edwards on Threads, another Meta app, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the reset of users’ limits on political content was “a mistake and should not have happened,” and the company is working to fix this.
Meta announced the update to limit political content on Instagram and Threads in February.
The setting is intended to allow users to choose whether they want to “limit political content” from users they don’t follow.
Technology advocacy group Accountable Tech urged Meta to provide users and creators with details about the error and how long the configuration was affected. Nicole Gill, CEO and co-founder of Accountable Tech, highlighted the potential impact of the error based on the timing of the presidential debate.
“In the middle of an election year and a day before the first presidential debate, Meta has just shown us that, with a touch of a button, the company has the power to change algorithms and settings without the knowledge of users and creators, with profound implications for the reach of content focused on political education, activism and mobilization,” Gill said in a statement.
The presidential candidates will debate Thursday at 9 p.m. ET in Atlanta, moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
