Meta launched threads this week which is their response on Twitter and in many ways both platforms want to host digital city arenas. However, Instagram head Adam Mosseri is clearing things up and saying the social network will not push topics about politics and hard news.
In the past few years, Meta has made a U-turn in pushing politics and hard news on its social networks, something Twitter has indicated has embraced and encouraged political talk.
Mosseri shared the topic “The goal is not to replace Twitter”. “The goal is to create a public square for communities on Instagram that haven’t really embraced Twitter and for communities on Twitter (and other platforms) that are interested in a less angry place for conversations, but not all of Twitter.”
Politics and hard news will inevitably appear on the platform, Mosseri acknowledges, “but we won’t do anything to encourage those sectors”.
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Another user pointed out that if Topics wanted to be a “public square” it would backfire on that content to which Mosseri replied, “We will not discourage or demote news or politics, we will not judge them the way we have been in the past “.
Mosseri said they don’t want to repeat the mistakes Facebook made in the past by being “hasty in promising too much” to the media industry.
The head of Instagram noted that “politics and hard news are important” but “from a platform perspective, any additional engagement or revenue they may generate is absolutely not worth the scrutiny, negativity (let’s be honest) or integrity risks that come with them.”
Mosseri continued, “There are more than amazing communities – sports, music, fashion, beauty, entertainment, etc. – to create a vibrant platform without having to get into politics or hard news.”
Meta claims to have already surpassed 70 million users in threads. Registration is easy because all it takes is an Instagram account and users are automatically registered on the new platform.
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