Instagram is temporarily removing the ‘recent’ tab from the hashtag searches on its platform. ‘'We’re doing this to reduce the real-time spread of potentially harmful content that could pop up around the election’', the company explained the purpose behind its move in a Twitter post.
The ‘top’ and ‘recent’ tabs are two tabs that categorize tag searches on Instagram. Instagram is attempting to stop the flow of hashtagged posts via the ‘recent’ tab and show only the ‘top’ tab that categorizes hashtagged posts based on engagement and relevance.
While this move by Instagram seems to be significant, it still isn’t a big step towards combatting misinformation around the elections, unlike what most of the other social platforms are doing.
Moreover, this new update is also likely to affect users’ Instagram traffic, depending on the discovery of their content across the platform.
The change is being brought for users in the U.S. and Instagram has not yet revealed how long it intends to keep the update in effect.
