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You can just tell the Instagram algorithm what you want now

2026-06-10T13:06:10-04:00

Instagram is going to let you tweak what its algorithm shows you on your main feed. With the Your Algorithm feature, "you can now see the topics we think you're interested in, and change them, across all the major parts of Instagram," according to Instagram boss Adam Mosseri. Right now, the feature will only surface topics, but Instagram is working on "supporting requests for people, different moods or vibes, content types, and more."

The company has been slowly giving users more agency over some algorithms on Instagram, having already launched the Your Algorithm feature for your Reels feed and the Explore page. With Wednesday's announcemen …

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Meta will use your activity on other websites to personalize your feeds

2026-06-09T10:06:52-04:00

Meta is planning to use the data shared by other businesses to personalize your feed and its AI responses. In a blog post on Tuesday, Meta explains that it already uses your off-platform activity, like the games you play or your purchases on other websites, to serve you ads. But now it's expanding the scope of the content it personalizes across Facebook and Instagram.

For example, Meta says if you bought a tent online recently, you might see camping-related videos in your Reels feed. "We aren't collecting any new data as part of this update," the blog post says. "This is about using information that businesses already send to us to further …

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Instagram is finally letting everyone reorganize their profile grid

2026-06-08T19:58:42-04:00

Nearly a year after it was announced, Instagram says it's delivering the ability to rearrange the posts in your profile grid. It had been available to some people in test groups, but as of June 8th, it's rolling out widely via the Android and iPhone mobile apps.

Until now, the posts on your Instagram profile have been locked in chronological order beyond the ability to pin three posts at the top, but once the feature is live on your account, you can long-press and drag posts freely, no matter how old they are. Any posts that are pinned will remain at the top.

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Instagram boss Adam Mosseri a …

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Hackers likely hijacked over 20,000 Instagram accounts with Meta’s AI chatbot

2026-06-08T10:31:06-04:00

Hackers likely took over 20,225 Instagram accounts using Meta's AI support chatbot, the company confirmed in a notice filed with the state of Maine. In the notice, spotted earlier by Bleeping Computer, Meta blames a "bug" for the exploit that allowed attackers to hijack accounts without two-factor authentication simply by asking the chatbot for a password reset:

The tool itself worked properly and functioned as intended; however due to a bug in a separate code path, the system did not properly verify that the email address provided by the individual requesting a password reset matched the email address associated with that user's Instagram …

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Facebook launches a ‘Plus’ subscription that gives you extra features

2026-05-27T16:03:42-04:00

After announcing tests of premium subscriptions for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp earlier this year, TechCrunch and Bloomberg report that Meta is launching a global rollout over the next few weeks and is also starting to test subscriptions for Meta AI. With the new offerings, Meta joins many other tech companies in changing up its subscription plans to bring in new revenues following substantial AI investments - Google, for example, recently lowered the price of its most expensive subscription and threw in YouTube Premium.

Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus will cost $3.99 per month, while WhatsApp Plus will cost $2.99 per month. Instagram Pl …

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Instagram hits the copy button again with new disappearing Instants photos

2026-05-13T13:58:09-04:00

Instagram is once again cribbing from competitors like Snapchat and BeReal with a new photo-sharing format it calls "Instants," which are ephemeral photos that you can't edit and that you can only share with your close friends or followers that follow you back. Instants are available globally beginning on Wednesday as a feature in the inbox in the Instagram app and as a separate app that's now in testing in select countries.

To access Instants from the Instagram app, go to your DM inbox and look in the bottom-right corner for an icon or a stack of photos. After you post a photo, your friends can emoji react to it and send a reply to your DM …

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Meta will tell parents when their teens add new interests to their Instagram algorithm

2026-05-12T15:56:50-04:00

Starting Tuesday, parents can get more details about what their teens are up to on Instagram. Meta is adding a feature to its Teen Accounts that shows parents the "general topics their teens engage with," like "basketball" or "fashion." Meta also says it will soon start notifying parents when their teen adds a new interest to their algorithm.

In December, Meta announced its "Your Algorithm" feature, which lets users choose topics they want to see more or less of in Instagram. Meta noted in its Tuesday blog post that users with Teen Accounts are already limited in what topics they can add to their algorithm - content shown to users with teen …

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Facebook and Instagram are using AI bone structure analysis to identify photos of kids

2026-05-05T08:07:13-04:00

Facebook and Instagram have a new way to detect and remove users under 13: AI bone structure analysis. In a blog post on Tuesday, Meta - Facebook and Instagram's parent company - says its AI system will scan photos and videos posted to its platforms for "general themes and visual cues," including height and bone structure.

"We want to be clear: this is not facial recognition," Meta says in the blog post, adding that it "does not identify the specific person in the image." This system is part of Meta's efforts to keep kids under 13 off its platforms, and will also analyze posts, comments, bios, and captions to search for "contextual clues" t …

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Instagram says it doesn’t want your tweet round ups

2026-04-29T22:14:51-04:00

The internet is full of copycat, stolen, reposted, and low-effort content - and Meta, at least publicly, has said it is working to cut off some of the reach.

Beginning in 2024, the company has made incremental announcements saying it would begin limiting "unoriginal" content from being recommended on Instagram. It meant that if you were downloading and reposting someone's Reels, or spamming the same clip over and over, your content wouldn't show up in recommendation feeds or places like the Explore tab. Similar rules were later announced for Facebook, where "unoriginal" accounts risk losing their ability to monetize content. The idea is tha …

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Meta isn’t doing enough to keep kids off Facebook and Instagram, rules EU

2026-04-29T07:15:18-04:00

Meta could face fines of up to $12 billion if it doesn’t remedy the DSA breaches. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Meta is breaching Europe's Digital Services Act (DSA) rules by failing to prevent children under 13 from using Facebook and Instagram, according to a preliminary decision issued by the European Commission.

The Commission announced the ruling on Wednesday after an almost two-year investigation, saying that Meta doesn't have adequate measures in place to stop under-13s from accessing its services, or to identify and remove those already on its social media platforms. A notable example is that minors can simply enter a false birth date when signing up for Facebook and Instagram to falsely declare they're over 13 years old - the minimum age ou …

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