Instagram Chief Pushes Back as Albanese Moves to Curb Feed Algorithms

The Australian government's push to give social media users a meaningful choice over how their feeds are curated has drawn a pointed response from Instagram's chief executive, who argues that abandoning algorithmic ranking would make the platform significantly worse for ordinary users. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the policy on Tuesday, setting up a direct tension between Canberra's regulatory agenda and Silicon Valley's commercial interests.

What Albanese's Government Is Proposing

The Albanese government has outlined plans to require social media platforms to prompt users to choose between two feed formats: an algorithm-driven feed of recommended content, or a reverse-chronological feed showing posts from accounts a user actively follows. The proposal forms part of a broader Labor package aimed at reducing online harm across major platforms. It represents one of the more concrete regulatory steps any Western government has taken toward mandating algorithmic transparency at the consumer level.

The announcement follows other firm moves by the government in this space. Earlier efforts have included Albanese vowing to toughen Australia's under-16 social media ban and measures to double social media ban fines to $99 million as Albanese presses tech giants for non-compliance.

Instagram's CEO Makes the Case for Ranking

Adam Mosseri, who leads Instagram, did not address the Australian government's proposal directly during a press briefing held Thursday in connection with the launch of the company's Algo Confessions series — its first rollout outside the United States. The series features celebrities and influencers explaining how Instagram's algorithm determines content visibility and how users can exercise limited control through their settings.

Mosseri did, however, make a vigorous defence of algorithmic ranking, arguing that only a "very vocal minority" genuinely wants a return to chronological feeds. His core contention, according to The Guardian World, is that without algorithmic curation, brands and companies — which can afford to post far more frequently than individual users or even professional creators — would dominate every feed.

"What happens is people become a bit less interested in the experience and they use it a lot less," Mosseri said, describing a scenario where reduced engagement shrinks the pool of available reach for everyone on the platform. He acknowledged the current system is imperfect, noting that ranking algorithms tend to over-optimise for measurable signals while undervaluing harder-to-quantify forms of engagement.

The Addiction Question Resurfaces

Mosseri also revisited a long-standing and contentious claim: that Instagram does not meet the clinical definition of addictive. He drew a distinction between the colloquial use of the word — as in binge-watching a television series — and clinical addiction, which he said involves withdrawal symptoms that social media use does not produce.

The assertion sits uneasily alongside a growing body of research indicating that frequent algorithmic engagement can alter dopamine pathways in ways that researchers describe as analogous to substance dependency. Meta's legal exposure on this point was laid bare last month when the company's own lawyer conceded in a landmark US court case that some users genuinely struggle with the platforms. Meta subsequently settled that litigation for US$18 billion while denying wrongdoing.

Regulatory Pressure Unlikely to Ease

Mosseri indicated that Meta's artificial intelligence tools may eventually allow users to query the app directly about why specific content appears in their feeds — a form of algorithmic transparency that, if realised, could partly align with the spirit of what Canberra is seeking. For now, however, the company's position and the government's direction remain in clear tension.

The Albanese government has shown little inclination to soften its approach to tech regulation, viewing social media oversight as both a public safety issue and, increasingly, a political priority. Whether the proposed opt-out mechanism will survive platform lobbying intact remains to be seen, but the policy signals an administration prepared to legislate where voluntary compliance has fallen short.

Related on Ni4o: Albanese Vows to Toughen Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban