During a hearing before a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the company is working on a version of its feed that would show users’ posts in chronological order, unlike its current ranking algorithm that sorts posts based on user preferences.
The company’s algorithmically sorted feed, introduced in 2016, and then updated in 2017 to include recommended posts, is widely disliked by users who prefer to have their posts and their friends’ posts surface in a timely manner. The current feed uses AI to create what Instagram considers a more personalized feed, based on users’ activity. But it has remained generally unpopular among a vast swath of users, despite the company’s assertions otherwise.
Mosseri appeared before the Senate subcommittee where he was grilled by senators about child safety issues on the app, prompted by revelations from whistleblower Frances Haugen, who testified that Instagram’s internal data showed it was aware its app may be “toxic” for teenagers.
On Tuesday, Instagram rolled out the “Take a Break” feature it started testing last month to users in the US and other English-speaking countries. The opt-in feature prompts users to pause using the app after they’ve been using it for a certain time period. More parental controls over their teenagers’ use of Instagram will be released next year, Mosseri said Tuesday.
