In a recent blog post, Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta, outlined the company’s efforts to increase transparency and user control over content ranking on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta is committed to providing users with a more transparent understanding of how their AI systems rank content across Facebook and Instagram. The company is working on making it easier for users to control what they see on their apps, with new controls being tested and existing ones made more accessible.
AI Predictions and Recommendations
Meta’s AI systems predict the potential value of content to individual users, allowing more relevant content to be shown sooner. These predictions are based on a variety of factors, including user behavior and feedback received through surveys.
To make the workings of their AI systems more accessible to users, Meta is releasing 22 system cards for Facebook and Instagram. These cards provide information about how their AI systems rank content, the predictions each system makes, and the controls users can use to customize their experience.
Meta uses signals and predictive models to determine what content a user will find most relevant. They also use signals to identify harmful content, which they remove as they become aware of it.
Expanding Tools for Personalization
Meta is expanding their “Why am I seeing this” feature in the Instagram Reels tab and Explore and Facebook Reels in the coming weeks. This feature provides information about how a user’s previous activity may have informed the machine learning models that shape and deliver the reels they see.
Meta has created centralized places on Facebook and Instagram where users can customize controls that influence the content they see. They are also testing a new feature that allows users to indicate interest in a recommended reel in the Reels tab. The Show More, Show Less feature on Facebook allows users to control the amount of content they see from a particular source. Meta is working on ways to make this feature even more prominent.
Users who prefer a non-algorithmically ranked feed can switch to a chronological feed on both Facebook and Instagram. Users can also add people to their favorites list to ensure they always see content from their favorite accounts.
These developments reflect Meta’s commitment to transparency, user control, and open research. By giving users more insight into and control over the content they see, and by providing researchers with better tools, Meta is taking significant steps towards responsible and user-centric AI development.
