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Meta\u2019s executives have been saying for a while that they don\u2019t want to boost posts about politics<\/a> in their apps. Now, an opt-out setting that limits recommendations of \u201cpolitical content\u201d has been added to Instagram and Threads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n You can find it under your \u201cContent preferences\u201d account settings in Instagram. From there, \u201cLimit political content from people you don\u2019t follow\u201d is enabled by default. The setting applies to Threads as well since that app shares its account system with Instagram.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Meta has framed this new setting as being good for user choice, and the company says it isn\u2019t limiting the reach of political content from accounts people choose to follow. While the change was first announced in early February<\/a>, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed to The Verge<\/em> that it began widely rolling out last week. As of Monday, the company hasn\u2019t sent any in-app notifications alerting people to the setting and the fact that it\u2019s on by default. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you talk to people at Meta about why they\u2019ve soured on recommending politics, you\u2019ll usually hear that they believe most people don\u2019t want to see it put in their feeds. Last year, however, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri was more direct about the company\u2019s motivation in a conversation with me on Threads<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPolitics and hard news are important, I don\u2019t want to imply otherwise,\u201d he said at the time<\/a>. \u201cBut my take is, from a platform\u2019s perspective, any incremental engagement or revenue they might drive is not at all worth the scrutiny, negativity (let\u2019s be honest), or integrity risks that come along with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So, there you have it: Meta doesn\u2019t want the blowback that comes from its role in actively surfacing political content, which it defines as<\/a> posts about \u201cgovernments,\u201d \u201celections,\u201d and \u201csocial topics\u201d \u2014 an ambiguous term that is likely intended to give lots of wiggle room for what can be included in this policy. If you don\u2019t want Meta making these calls about what it recommends to you, it\u2019s time to change your settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n