The app previously prioritized original material over re-shared pieces in its “stories” function, but it now says it will treat both equally. On some types of posts, the current system had a “larger impact than expected.” During the current Gaza crisis, social media channels were actively used by both sides to broadcast messages of support. Many pro-Palestinian messages were among the most commonly shared, implying that they would have got less attention under the present system than original postings. The Instagram staff group has made many requests concerning information that had been banned by Instagram’s automatic moderation, such as postings regarding the al-Asqa mosque being wrongly erased, as reported by BuzzFeed News and the Financial Times. The staff didn’t believe the censoring was malicious, but one claimed that “moderating at scale is prejudiced towards any marginalised people. Instagram stated this newly announced transition towards equal weighting of original posts and re-shared stories would happen over time, rather than being an instant change. According to the spokesperson, Instagram still thinks that users want to see more original stories and is exploring new technologies to help focus on original content.
