Instagram widens its 'Your Algorithm' control feature

Instagram is rolling out 'Your Algorithm' more widely, letting users see and tune what the recommendation system shows them. Available on the Reels tab via a new heart-and-filter icon, it reveals the topics Instagram believes a user cares about and allows adding topics, removing them or banning them entirely, with expansion to Explore and the main feed planned.

Instagram's chief said he is excited about a world with transparency and control around the algorithm. Users are already asking when Facebook will get the same.

Facebook, meanwhile, has unveiled a redesign emphasizing friends, photos and Marketplace, the latest in a string of changes users describe as the Instagram-ification of the aging app, alongside its recent push to revive Groups.

The feature lands as Australia's under-16 social media ban takes effect, reigniting debate over feed design: one Australian politician argues teenage addiction to feeds was not a bug but a design feature, citing a description of the feed algorithm as 'behavioral cocaine.'