If you double-tap an Instagram Reel recently, your friends may be able to see it, thanks to a new Instagram update. Instagram Reels introduces a new friends tab that shows you all the videos that your friends like and interact with, the company Office has partnered Friday. The new feature is rolling out starting today for US users.
This is different from your friends tab in Reels, which shows you all the videos created and posted by the accounts you follow. This is more reminiscent of the TikTok algorithm, which weaves videos that your friends DM you into your For Your page.
You can find this separate Reels feed by tapping the new tablet-shaped widget in the top right corner — which shows a couple of your friends’ profile photos — and the new dedicated feed will open. You can also reply to videos or start DMs with friends from there. Don’t worry if you don’t see the option yet — new feature rollouts can take a while.
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The update follows a tumultuous start to the year for Meta. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company ending its third-party fact-checking program on all its platforms and carefully moderate its content. Proposed changes to the content moderation policy include removing restrictions on how users can talk about gender identity and immigration, in what Zuckerberg called a return to “the roots of the free environment expression” of the company.
Fact-checking groups and LGBTQ+ advocates concerned about what this means for the quality and safety of information on platforms.
The new feature will also arrive on the same day as The US Supreme Court upheld the law which will effectively ban TikTok if it does not sell its US business by January 19 to a new buyer approved by US officials. President Joe Biden define he will not implement the ban in the last few hours of his presidency, and President-elect Donald Trump, who was sworn in on Monday, said he was interested in finding a political solution.
But the decision casts a lot of uncertainty on the future of the video-based social media for the more than 170 million active users of TikTok in the US, some of whom want to migrate to Instagram Reels or others. alternative sites.