Instagram is changing its algorithms to prevent stolen content from going viral

Instagram will make important changes to its recommendation algorithms to prevent viral posts from accounts that steal content from other profiles. The new system will give more power to original creators, who often have few followers, the social network announced.

For some time now, the accounts that have gained the most popularity and followers are those that are dedicated solely to reposting content from other users. Known as “aggregators” on Instagram, these profiles often don’t even link to the source of the image or video. And even if they do, they often overshadow the original creators because their authorship goes unnoticed and they are unable to achieve the same level of interaction.

But that will soon change. In the future, when Instagram detects two or more identical pieces of content, I will only recommend the original version. This will be reflected both on the main screen of the social network and in the Reels and Explore sections. Of course, the platform will not replace recommendations if it sees that publications contain important changes. For example, whether the voiceover was included, included in a collection, or edited into a meme.

Additionally, republished versions of Reels or other content. will begin to display a tag linking to their original creators.. Initially, Instagram will allow both the author of the original material and the reposter to remove this tag. Although there seem to be indications that this option will no longer be available in the future.

Instagram will remove coverage from accounts that steal content

Another important change that Instagram will implement is that will stop recommending posts from aggregator profiles. That is, those who build a huge fan base by republishing other people’s content, often without proper credit to the original creators.

Accounts that publish 10 or more unoriginal posts within 30 days will no longer appear in various Instagram recommendations sections. These profiles will have to wait 30 days from the last time they shared photos or videos that weren’t theirs to be allowed to show their content to a wider number of users again. It is worth clarifying that this change will only be visible “in the coming months,” Meta said.

So Instagram is finally starting to address a fairly prominent issue on its platform. Browsing the Reels section for a couple of minutes is enough to come across the same video several times, but published by different accounts and not knowing which one is original. Something similar happens with obvious copies of some viral messages, with the help of which several profiles try to gain mass fame. Although it is unclear whether changes in the social network’s algorithms will also affect the latter.

It’s true that plagiarism isn’t Instagram’s only problem.. There are thousands of accounts on X (Twitter) designed to post other people’s content for the purpose of interaction and benefit from monetization. Reposting unoriginal videos is also a constant occurrence on TikTok. It remains to be seen whether the measures proposed by Meta are effective and whether they will truly change the landscape of content distribution in apps with such important reach.