Story perspectives
Australia’s opt-out algorithm reforms force platforms to comply
By Drooid · · How we work
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Story summary
- Australian government announced reforms requiring platforms to let users opt out of algorithms.
- Instagram’s settings let users disable the algorithm and view posts chronologically.
- The author disabled Instagram’s algorithm for 24 hours and unfollowed about 100 accounts.
- Instagram then reported no new posts from followed accounts in the past 30 days.
- The resulting feed showed mainly self-promotion, animal clips, food and reality-TV gossip, leaving the author mentally numbed.