Facebook owned Instagram is following its parent company’s policies of blocking the spread of disinformation during the 2020 American Presidential elections. Its latest move was to temporarily suspend the “recent” tab from Instagram posts.
So what difference will this make, you are probably asking yourself right now.
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When you click on “recent” from within a post it directs to the latest posts made under that specific subject. The most recent posts are the problem.
As much as social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram may be trying their hardest to block fake news and harmful content, they cannot do so instantaneously. It takes their “moderators” as they call them to sift through all of the posts and to find objectionable or false content.
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10 US cities. 5 artists and murals. 1 message: #VotingIsVoice ????@vivaillajams’s art reflects her American, Kenyan and Trinidadian identity. https://t.co/YMoTA6sOIx pic.twitter.com/SdBfMDtoUm
— Instagram (@instagram) October 30, 2020
Because the elections are now just a few days away it is unlikely that such material can all be cleaned from the sites before the polls close on Tuesday. And no matter what the outcome, Americans can expect weeks, if not months, of continued disinformation proliferating on social media.
So by suspending the ability to see the most recent posts first Instagram can help slow the spread of fake news and give its people more time to effectively vet such posts.
Instagram explained its decision in a post on Twitter saying, “As we near the U.S. elections, we’re making changes to make it harder for people to come across possible misinformation on Instagram.”
“Starting today, for people in the U.S. we will temporarily remove the “Recent” tab from hashtag pages. We’re doing this to reduce the real-time spread of potentially harmful content that could pop up around the election.”
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I used to think the key to successful relationships was maintaining a separate life. Then, I thought the key was maintaining separate homes. But now, I realize the only way to have a successful relationship is never see/speak to/ interact with/ think about the other person.
— Jessica Ciencin Henriquez (@TheWriterJess) October 30, 2020
But while this is happening, the British publication The Daily Mail has taken the time to report on something about Instagram which really important: actor Arnie Hammer was blocked by Jessica Ciencin Henriquez after ty reportedly had a bad date.
If you ae wondering who Jessica Ciencin Henriquez is, so are we.
