Changes
415 times Instagram's guidance changed, newest first. Each shows what was said before, and what replaced it.
2024
RemixApr 2024
Instagram refines its recommendation guidance by explicitly exempting significantly transformed content, including reaction remixes, from replacement by the original.
Before
Tips for Improving Your Reach“reposts of a reel that’s already on Instagram, content with noticeable watermarks, or accounts that regularly collect and reshare others’ content on their feed. Pro tip: Use the Remix tool instead to add your own spin to a popular reel.”
After
Helping Creators Find New Audiences“content, the top performing set of reels are shown to a slightly wider audience, then the best of these are shown to an even wider group, and so on. We’ll roll this out over the coming months.”
Recommendation eligibilityApr 2024
The newer guidance expands the stated recommendation restrictions to include political content related to laws, elections, or social topics.
Before
Instagram Ranking Explained“block, mute, hide or report that person if you choose). However, we want to reduce the possibility of you seeing something offensive in Explore, since that is content we recommend to you from people you haven’t yet chosen to follow.”
After
Helping Creators Find New Audiences“Content that promotes the use of certain regulated products, such as tobacco or vaping products, adult products and services, or pharmaceuticals. - Sensitive or low-quality content about health or finance, such as: - Content that promotes or depicts cosmetic procedures.”
Original contentApr 2024
Instagram moved from a general promise to favor original content to specific measures: replacing copies in recommendations, linking copies to originals, and excluding aggregators from recommendations.
Before
New Features“you create something from scratch, you should get more credit than if you are re-sharing something that you found from someone else. We're going to do more to try and value original content more, particularly compared to reposted content.”
After
Helping Creators Find New Audiences“Historically because of how we’ve ranked content, creators with large followings and aggregators that share copies of original content have gotten more reach in recommendations than smaller, original content creators. We think it’s important to correct this to give all creators a more equal chance of breaking through to new audiences.”
SearchApr 2024
Search expanded beyond finding things on Instagram to include real-time web results through Meta AI.
Before
How Search Works“Hi everyone, this week I wanted to talk about how search works on Instagram. This is part of an ongoing series to try and explain more about how Instagram works because we think it's important to be transparent about how we do what we do.”
After
Meta AI updates“Meta AI updates Announcing exciting updates to Meta AI that make it easier to get things done and access real-time information directly in the Instagram app. Search: Meta AI is now integrated in Search, so you can get real-time web results without leaving the app.”
FeedApr 2024
Music on carousel posts moved from a test to a feature Mosseri demonstrated and recommended using.
Before
Hidden Gems - Music in Feed“Hidden Gems - Music in Feed This feature allows you to bring your content to life by adding a soundtrack to your photo post on Feed. We’re testing this feature with carousel posts now - more to come soon.”
After
Trying something new this week for Creator Spotlight, and making a reel where I highlight some amazing content from at @pangea, a guy named Johannes who’s an amazing photo and video creator out of Germany.“For this week's creator spotlight, when I highlight a creator named Johannes at a Germany, he's a photographer and a video creator. Does some amazing stuff. He's got a great aesthetic. Here he's got a carousel with photos, but he's adding music.”
Branded contentMar 2024Reversed
Instagram had announced plans to test managing and paying for brand deals inside the app, but Mosseri later said marketplace deals happen off platform.
Before
Helping Creators Build a Business Now — And for the Metaverse“We will soon begin testing Creator Marketplace on Instagram, where brands and creators can more easily build branded content partnerships. Creators will be able to indicate the brands and topics they’re interested in making branded content for, discover opportunities to partner with vetted brands and manage their brand deals without ever leaving the app.”
After
Creator Tips & Tricks“and brands. Now we have something called the Creator Marketplace, which we use to try to help brands and creators find each other and make those deals. But these deals happen off platform. My advice to you as a creator is if you can afford to, be picky about those deals.”
Branded contentFeb 2024
Creator Marketplace expanded beyond its initial US test to new markets and added testing of machine-learning recommendations to match brands with creators.
Before
Helping Creators Build a Business Now — And for the Metaverse“We will soon begin testing Creator Marketplace on Instagram, where brands and creators can more easily build branded content partnerships. Creators will be able to indicate the brands and topics they’re interested in making branded content for, discover opportunities to partner with vetted brands and manage their brand deals without ever leaving the app.”
After
Making it Easier for Brands and Creators to Collaborate on Instagram“From branded content to partnership ads, Instagram is one of the best places for brands and creators to collaborate, and now, we’re making it even easier to work together. In 2022, we began testing the creator marketplace in the US, a tool for brands and creators to connect and collaborate around partnership opportunities.”
Instagram SubscriptionsFeb 2024
Subscription promotion tools expanded to include a 50% lifetime discount for the next five subscribers and a free-month offer for subscribers trying to cancel.
Before
Giving Creators More Ways to Earn Money on Facebook and Instagram“For creators who have already built a strong community, Instagram Subscriptions can help them earn recurring, predictable income by offering exclusive content and experiences for subscribers. Since expanding access earlier this year to more creators, there are now more than 1M active subscriptions to creators through Instagram subscriptions.”
After
Creating a Successful Instagram Subscription: Your Essential Checklist“- Promote with Stories: You are your biggest promoter. The more you’re excited about it, the more your followers will be excited. Share sneak previews of your subscription content on your stories and use the ‘Subscribe’ sticker to entice your followers to join.”
Bullying and harassmentFeb 2024
Hidden Words was now on by default for creators, rather than simply being available for people to turn on.
Before
Today, we’re announcing new tools to help protect our community from abuse.“Today, we’re announcing new tools to help protect our community from abuse. Limits - now available globally - lets you hide comments and DMs from people who don’t follow you or who only just followed you.”
After
Improving DMs for Creators“You're creator and you use DMs we have an update this week that will hopefully make the experience just a little bit more positive for you. Now you probably already know how to use filters. And what we're adding is a filter for people you follow because maybe you DM a lot of people you don't follow yet negotiating deals, figuring out collaborations.”
Hidden WordsFeb 2024
Turning Hidden Words on by default for creators moves from a test to an established default setting.
Before
Updates to How We Protect People on Instagram From Abuse“Since launching Hidden Words last year, more than one in five people with more than 10,000 followers have turned on the feature, giving them a powerful tool to automatically filter harmful content from their comments and message requests.”
After
Improving DMs for Creators“You're creator and you use DMs we have an update this week that will hopefully make the experience just a little bit more positive for you. Now you probably already know how to use filters. And what we're adding is a filter for people you follow because maybe you DM a lot of people you don't follow yet negotiating deals, figuring out collaborations.”
Content recommendationsFeb 2024
Posting political content became an additional reason an account could lose recommendation eligibility, with Account Status offering ways to regain it.
Before
Recommendations“Recommendations To create more opportunities for discovery, we’ve been adding recommendations (content from accounts you don’t follow) to more places. Here are ways to be eligible for recommendations: - Recommendation Guidelines - Community Guidelines - Public Accounts Only Check out the link in my bio to dig into the details - see you next week!”
After
Continuing our Approach to Political Content on Instagram and Threads“follow. If political content – potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics – is posted by an account that is not eligible to be recommended, that account’s content can still reach their followers in Feed and Stories.”
Account StatusFeb 2024
Account Status added guidance for professional accounts restricted from recommendations because of recent political posts, including waiting without posting political content to regain eligibility.
Before
What Creators Need To Know About Instagram Recommendations“We’re introducing the ability for professional accounts to check if their account’s content is ineligible to be recommended to non-followers in Account Status. With this update you can: - Check if your account’s content can be recommended: See if your content may be eligible for recommendation to non-followers in places like Explore, Reels and Feed Recommendations.”
After
Continuing our Approach to Political Content on Instagram and Threads“follow. If political content – potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics – is posted by an account that is not eligible to be recommended, that account’s content can still reach their followers in Feed and Stories.”
Political contentFeb 2024
The guidance expands from avoiding political Reels recommendations to account-level recommendation eligibility rules and a control for people who want political recommendations.
Before
Shedding More Light on How Instagram Works“how interested you might be in what they shared. - Information about the reel. These are signals about the content within the video such as the audio track, video understanding based on pixels and whole frames, as well as popularity.”
After
Continuing our Approach to Political Content on Instagram and Threads“follow. If political content – potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics – is posted by an account that is not eligible to be recommended, that account’s content can still reach their followers in Feed and Stories.”
Content moderationFeb 2024
Instagram moved from exploring AI enforcement improvements to testing large language models against its rules and using them to clear confidently nonviolating content from review queues.
Before
Community Standards Enforcement Report, Second Quarter 2022“We are always refining our policies and enforcement so that we’re both supporting people’s ability to express themselves and protecting safety across our platforms. We know we don’t always get it right, and we’re looking into ways we can improve our proactive enforcement, like through applying AI technology.”
After
Labeling AI-Generated Images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads“the reason why we’ve been able to cut the prevalence of hate speech on Facebook to just 0. 01-0. 02% (as of Q3 2023). In other words, for every 10,000 content views, we estimate just one or two will contain hate speech.”
PhotosFeb 2024
Music for carousels moved from being tested to a feature creators were encouraged to use.
Before
Hidden Gems - Music in Feed“Hidden Gems - Music in Feed This feature allows you to bring your content to life by adding a soundtrack to your photo post on Feed. We’re testing this feature with carousel posts now - more to come soon.”
After
Creator Tips & Tricks“If you're a photographer or you're creative and the primary way that you express yourself is through still photographs, great, please post photos. Contrary to common belief, lots of people consume lots of photos on Instagram.”
Privacy settingsJan 2024
Messaging controls gained stricter defaults for younger teens, blocking messages from people they do not follow or connect with and requiring parental approval to loosen default settings.
Before
This week I thought I’d talk about some of the lesser known, but still great, features in DMs.“you to control exactly what happens in your messages. You go to settings, you go to privacy, you go to messages, and you can see you can decide who can actually message you. You can decide who can actually do groups and the rest of it.”
After
I talk to a lot of parents, and often hear concerns about who can message their teens.“I talk to a lot of parents, and often hear concerns about who can message their teens. That’s why today we’re announcing stricter messaging settings for teens under 16 (and under 18 in certain countries) so they won’t receive messages from anyone they don’t follow or aren’t connected to, by default.”
Privacy settingsJan 2024
The earlier effort to limit unwanted adult contact became a default restriction on messages from anyone younger teens do not follow or connect with.
Before
As a dad to three, I know it’s important to create an Instagram experience for young people that’s safe and private but also fun.“As a dad to three, I know it’s important to create an Instagram experience for young people that’s safe and private but also fun. That’s why we’re sharing some updates: - Now everyone under 16 will be defaulted to a private account when they join Instagram - We’re making it harder for adults to contact teens who don’t want to hear from them - We’re limiting ways advertisers can reach young people on Instagram and Facebook We’ll keep listening to feedback from teens, parents, lawmakers and experts – and working to keep Instagram safe.”
After
I talk to a lot of parents, and often hear concerns about who can message their teens.“I talk to a lot of parents, and often hear concerns about who can message their teens. That’s why today we’re announcing stricter messaging settings for teens under 16 (and under 18 in certain countries) so they won’t receive messages from anyone they don’t follow or aren’t connected to, by default.”
Parental supervisionJan 2024
Parents gain the ability to deny requests to change default safety and privacy settings, going beyond viewing settings and receiving change notifications.
Before
Giving People Control Over Their Time and What They See on Instagram“In addition to providing teens with more ways to manage their time and experiences on Instagram, we want to help parents be more aware of the choices their teens make, and make it easier for them to have discussions with their teens about their settings through Family Center and supervision tools.”
After
Introducing Stricter Message Settings for Teens on Instagram and Facebook“deny requests to change their teen’s default safety and privacy settings gives parents the tools they need to help protect their teens, while at the same time respecting their teens’ privacy and ability to communicate with their friends and family.””
Parental supervisionJan 2024
For supervised teens under 16, parents would approve or deny requests to weaken default safety and privacy settings instead of merely receiving notifications after changes.
Before
Giving People Control Over Their Time and What They See on Instagram“In addition to providing teens with more ways to manage their time and experiences on Instagram, we want to help parents be more aware of the choices their teens make, and make it easier for them to have discussions with their teens about their settings through Family Center and supervision tools.”
After
Introducing Stricter Message Settings for Teens on Instagram and Facebook“We first launched parental supervision on Instagram in March 2022 and since then have continued to add new features to help involve parents more in their teens’ online experiences. These include the ability for parents to set time limits and schedule breaks, to understand when their teen blocks or shares they’ve reported someone, and to be notified when their teen changes their settings.”
Time spentJan 2024
Instagram added teen-specific nighttime nudges after more than 10 minutes in places like Reels or DMs, extending its earlier break-reminder tools.
Before
Testing “Take a Break” “And what we're starting to test this week on Instagram is one that I'm actually personally very excited about. It's called Take a Break and it does what you think it does. If you opt in, it encourages you to take a break from Instagram after you spend a certain amount of time on the app, 10, 20, 30 minutes.”
After
We know how important sleep is, particularly for young people, so today we’re launching new nighttime nudges that will show up when teens have spent more than 10 minutes on Instagram in places like Reels or DMs late at night.“We know how important sleep is, particularly for young people, so today we’re launching new nighttime nudges that will show up when teens have spent more than 10 minutes on Instagram in places like Reels or DMs late at night.”
StickersJan 2024
Add Yours expanded to Story templates that let people pin stickers and gallery images for others to use.
Before
New Stories Features“stickers are more consistent with the rest of how Instagram works. When you do swipe up that means that you can do reply or react and we want to make sure that you could still have those sort of meaningful interactions from stories.”
After
Hidden Gems“then lastly we've extended our templates in stories. So we've had an ad your sticker for a while which you've probably seen before things like show the most recent photo from your gallery. We've extended that to allow you to pin other things like stickers and images from your gallery as well.”
Close FriendsJan 2024
Close Friends sharing expanded from Stories to photos, reels and carousels.
Before
Curate Instagram Stories for Close Friends Only“Starting today, you can make a close friends list on Stories and share with just the people you’ve added. Instagram Stories has become the place to express yourself and share everyday moments, but our community has grown and sometimes what you want to share isn’t for everyone.”
After
Hidden Gems“Instagram is where you can connect with your friends over the things that you care about. So this week I wanted to do a quick hidden gems video highlighting some of my favorite features that we've launched over the years on Instagram to help you connect with your friends.”
Teen safetyJan 2024
Instagram expanded teen content restrictions beyond recommendations to hide certain age-inappropriate content in Feed and Stories, even from accounts teens follow.
Before
Raising the Standard for Protecting Teens and Supporting Parents Online“our Recommendation Guidelines, “Allow” enables people to see more sensitive content, whereas “Limit Even More” means they see less of this content than the default state. The “Allow” option has always been unavailable to people under the age of 18.”
After
New Protections to Give Teens More Age-Appropriate Experiences on Our Apps“We regularly consult with experts in adolescent development, psychology and mental health to help make our platforms safe and age-appropriate for young people, including improving our understanding of which types of content may be less appropriate for teens.”
Sensitive contentJan 2024
Instead of the general Standard default, existing teen users would automatically receive the most restrictive sensitive-content setting, as new teen users already did.
Before
Updates to the Sensitive Content Control“personalize their experience on Instagram. Last summer, we launched the Sensitive Content Control so people could choose how much or how little sensitive content to see in Explore from accounts they don’t follow. Today, we’re announcing updates to this control.”
After
New Protections to Give Teens More Age-Appropriate Experiences on Our Apps“- Vicki Shotbolt, CEO, ParentZone. org We’re automatically placing teens into the most restrictive content control setting on Instagram and Facebook. We already apply this setting for new teens when they join Instagram and Facebook, and are now expanding it to teens who are already using these apps.”
RemixJan 2024
Teen privacy prompts gain a one-tap option that automatically restricts Remix permissions along with other privacy settings.
Before
New Updates to Help Prevent the Spread of Young People’s Intimate Images Online“connecting with teens on those apps, and we educate teens about the dangers of engaging with adults they do not know online. We’ve also made it easier for people to report potentially harmful content, particularly if it involves a child.”
After
New Protections to Give Teens More Age-Appropriate Experiences on Our Apps“To help make sure teens are regularly checking their safety and privacy settings on Instagram, and are aware of the more private settings available, we’re sending new notifications encouraging them to update their settings to a more private experience with a single tap.”
Content recommendationsJan 2024
Instagram moves existing teen users to the most restrictive sensitive-content setting rather than leaving them on the general Standard default.
Before
Updates to the Sensitive Content Control“personalize their experience on Instagram. Last summer, we launched the Sensitive Content Control so people could choose how much or how little sensitive content to see in Explore from accounts they don’t follow. Today, we’re announcing updates to this control.”
After
New Protections to Give Teens More Age-Appropriate Experiences on Our Apps“- Vicki Shotbolt, CEO, ParentZone. org We’re automatically placing teens into the most restrictive content control setting on Instagram and Facebook. We already apply this setting for new teens when they join Instagram and Facebook, and are now expanding it to teens who are already using these apps.”
2023
Instagram InsightsNov 2023
Watch-time analysis expands beyond averages and totals to a retention chart showing viewing moment by moment.
Before
Reels Updates“Instagram, you'll be able to see the average watch time on that reel and the total watch time on that reel. And because we know that a lot of creators are trying to make a living doing what they do, we're also expanding our digital gifts program, which is currently just in the US, to Australia and Canada and Mexico, France, New Zealand and the UK.”
After
New Ways to Create Content on Instagram“We’re making improvements to help you better understand how your reels content is performing. We introduced a new Reels metric on Facebook and Instagram called Replays and we updated the definition of Reels Plays to also include Replays in addition to Initial Plays.”
ReelsNov 2023
Instagram updated Reels Plays to count replays as well as initial plays, so reported play counts may increase under the new definition.
Before
New Features on Instagram Reels: Trends, Editing and Gifts“We’re improving Reels insights to help you better understand how your content is performing. We’re adding two new metrics: total watch time and average watch time – and making it easier to see your insights while viewing your reels directly.”
After
New Ways to Create Content on Instagram“We’re making improvements to help you better understand how your reels content is performing. We introduced a new Reels metric on Facebook and Instagram called Replays and we updated the definition of Reels Plays to also include Replays in addition to Initial Plays.”
Video viewsNov 2023
Instagram expanded video view counting to include Reels replays, increasing view counts without changing reach.
Before
Introducing Video View Counts“Update on 8/7/24: This post is no longer up to date. Please refer to our Help Center for the most current information on Instagram Insights. Over the next few weeks, you’ll start to see how many times people have watched a video on Instagram.”
After
New photo filters, reels editing tools and more!“you've always been able to replay reels that you watch on Instagram. We're going to now start counting those replays towards your view count. This is actually an industry standard and just an oversight on our part.”
Instagram SubscriptionsNov 2023
Subscriptions expanded from US availability and announced tests in three other countries to availability in 43 countries.
Before
Creator Week Announcements“Happy Creator Week. Today we're actually announcing a bunch of new ways for creators to make a living on Instagram and on Facebook because we know for so many creators out there, it's not just a hobby, it's a way to make a living.”
After
The holidays are coming up and we're testing a new holiday bonus with select creators in the US, Japan and South Korea that pay for both reels and photos — a new approach with bonuses.“Creators get paid on Instagram. Sometimes from their fans directly, sometimes from brands, and sometimes from Instagram. And today we're announcing we're actually expanding our bonuses. More to that in a second. Now on payments from fans, I love things like subscriptions because they're very predictable sources of income.”