Sponsored content

Instagram’s Help Center says the selection of sponsored content can use accounts someone follows, posts they like, and the content they publish or interact with.3 It also lists Facebook information and interests, and says Facebook activity may affect Instagram ads when the accounts are linked.3 Other possible inputs include activity on third-party websites and apps and, depending on the region, interactions with AI products.3

Meta’s patents examine both what sponsored content can contain and how it could be inserted among unpaid posts.24 One Meta patent describes paid promotion taking the form of highlighting a person’s action, such as liking a page or commenting on a post, rather than only displaying a standalone advertisement.2 Another Meta patent proposes sending unpaid posts to a person’s device while sponsored content is still being selected, then adding the selected advertising on the device to help the feed arrive faster.4 In that Meta patent, the device applies placement policies—rules restricting where an ad can appear relative to unpaid posts—to choose its position.4

Placement restrictions for sponsored content need not always be fixed in Meta’s patent proposals: one Meta patent describes loosening them according to a person’s tolerance for advertising.5 The Meta patent also describes allowing exceptions when enough criteria meet specified thresholds, including payment for showing the ad, similarity to previously shown ads, or the predicted chance of interaction.5 One version in the Meta patent combines the advertiser’s offered payment with estimated interaction to assess whether an otherwise restricted placement should be allowed.5

Meta’s patents extend the placement question from individual ads to a group of sponsored items occupying one scrollable unit in a feed.78 In these Meta patents, the system scores the group using advertiser bids—the amounts offered for advertising—and previous interactions with content in such units, then ranks it against other sponsored content.78 If selected, the group’s items are ordered, with additional sponsored items appearing as the person navigates within the unit, according to the Meta patents.78