Key points:
- “We’re doing this to lessen the real-time unfold of probably dangerous content material that would pop up across the election.
- The “New” tab of Instagram arranges hashtags and amplifies posts in chronological order.
- Twitter has recently introduced some temporary measures to delay content amplification.
- It was the result of a policy change revealed last month by Facebook to ban new political advertising in the week before the elections.
Facebook Inc’s Instagram stated on Thursday it was making modifications to its photograph sharing platform for U.S. customers to save you the unfold of incorrect information across the Nov. 3 presidential election.
For customers in the United States, Instagram will quickly get rid of the “Recent” tab from hashtag pages beginning Thursday, it stated in an announcement on Twitter.
“We’re doing this to lessen the real-time unfold of probably dangerous content material that would pop up across the election,” the announcement added.
The “New” tab of Instagram arranges hashtags and amplifies posts in chronological order. Researchers have indicated that the rapid dissemination of misinformation on the platform can lead to automatic amplification.
The rise comes as social media platforms face rising pressure to tackle election-related disinformation and plan around the Nov. 3 vote for the threat of abuse or polling place intimidation.
Twitter Inc said earlier this month that it would delete tweets calling for individuals to intervene, even by abuse, with the U.S. electoral process or the implementation of election results.
Twitter has recently introduced some temporary measures to delay content amplification: for instance, global users pressing “retweet” would first be guided to the “quote post” button from Oct. 20 to at least the end of the U.S. election week to enable people to add their own comments.
Without added background, Twitter said it would also prevent trending topics from surfacing. His decision to hit the brakes on automatic suggestions contrasts with the Facebook strategy, which has previously improved its community product promotion.
Facebook admitted separately on Thursday that a technological flaw in its infrastructure caused several Republican and Democratic party advertisements to be inappropriately paused.
It was the result of a policy change revealed last month by Facebook to ban new political advertising in the week before the elections. Facebook said it had made changes to make it easier to run the ads affected.
