Desperate to keep its young user base and keep up with the latest trends in social media, Instagram will once again allow users to browse a version of its feed that is not generated by an app.
Adam Mosseri shared the news during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, where he was repeatedly questioned on a number of topics related to a recent allegation that the platform knowingly profits off of an online environment that is toxic for its teenage users.
The concession about the chronological feed seems like a waste of time, considering how popular the feed has been among users. The feed was first introduced in 2016 and has since been updated to include recommended posts from users who might not have even been following.
It is definitely not reverting everyone back to a chronological feed, but it is creating new options, so people can decide what works best for them. Mosseri told the Senate committee that the company is going to launch a new chronological feed in the first quarter of next year.
Mosseri said that the platform is interested in creating a new oversight mechanism known as an "industry body" that could instruct the platform on a set of best practices regarding things like handling sensitive information, like children's data, and implementing new parental controls. Senators who had just spent hours grillingInstagram over its apparent safety failures seemed less than impressed by the suggestion that it could right the ship by inventing new ways to regulate itself.
