Key Sentence:
- The photo-sharing platform tests favorites that allow users to choose whose content they see the first time they update.
- It can also help reduce shadow bans.
Instagram’s algorithm goes terrible Instagram. In 2016, the photo-sharing platform changed how events work by displaying posts more precisely than in chronological order. IMO this rule – I don’t care what someone from school posted a minute ago, but I’d love to see a three-day meme about Larry David covering his ears in NYFW.
Anyway, for those who want some autonomy in managing their feed, I have some excellent news. Whose posts will appear higher up in your feed. Since Dazed 2020 is exploring this feature, Instagram isn’t interested in sex workers – the update could help reduce shadow bans (if users can post usually, but the content is in public).
This practice is often used against sex workers Instagram have long been penalized by social media platforms. However, by letting users choose which accounts to prioritize.
While Instagram previously said it “takes no action against accounts because they belong to sex workers or adult artists. We only take action when accounts violate our guidelines,” sex workers emphasize different attitudes towards sexually explicit celebrities than real adult creators. “Celebrities and others who deal with sexual attraction in a ‘more respectable’ way now have the right to far more explicit sexual content than sex workers. And that will continue to be the case,” London sex worker Valerie August said Dazed in December.
“The difference is not in the actual content, but in the fact that it is a sex worker.”
This isn’t the first time Instagram has tested the favorites feature. The ability to share stories with a select few followers – but this feature applies to posts and stories online.
Instagram is constantly testing new updates, some of which have eventually become popular and successful. See: Hiding Like Counts and Updates to its Nudity Policy – and some of which are savagely mocked – see: no feed sharing and of course, horizontal scrolling.