Meta, earlier this year, rolled out a new filter to limit political content from users’ recommendations in Threads and Instagram by default. At the time, the company said that it didn't want to proactively push political posts and allowed users to opt-in to political content recommendation via Instagram settings if they wished to see that content.
However, Meta is limiting political content recommendations even for users who had opted-in to see such content. An unspecified "error" caused the "political content" toggle to revert to the "limit" setting whenever the Instagram app was closed. This toggle is buried deep within the app's settings menu.
Political content, according to Meta, refers to topics likely to mention governments, elections, or social issues affecting a group of people or society at large.
The problem was raised by users on Threads. It is not known how long the "error" impacted users' recommendations. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated on Threads, "This was an error and should not have occurred. We are working on fixing it." Meta did not respond to inquiries about how long the setting had been malfunctioning.
Stone later confirmed that the supposed bug had been fixed. In a statement on Threads, he said, "Earlier today, we identified an error in which people's selections in the Instagram political content settings tool mistakenly appeared to have reset, even though no change had actually been made. The issue has now been fixed, and we encourage people to check and make sure their settings reflect their preferences."
Meanwhile, Apple has reportedly rejected a proposal from Meta Platforms Inc. to integrate Meta's Llama AI chatbot into iPhones. According to a Bloomberg report, Meta and Apple had initially discussed collaborating in March 2024 for the potential integration of Llama into iOS devices. However, this did not progress to a formal agreement as Apple currently has no plans to incorporate Meta’s AI technology into its ecosystem.
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