Highlights:

  • The company stated that political content would be featured in the Threads trending topic section when a sufficient number of users engage with a specific story.
  • Meta aims to align Threads more closely with the ongoing conversations during what could be a tumultuous year to narrow the gap with its competitor, X.

Meta Platforms Inc. has revealed plans to test a trending topics feature in the United States on its X competitor social network, Threads.

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, said, “For those of you who have been calling for a trending feature, we’re rolling out a small test in the U.S. to help you find timely topics people are talking about. Today’s topics on Threads will be on the search page and in the For You feed.”

These topics will encompass political content, creating a potential contradiction as Meta had announced last week its intention to restrict such content on Instagram and Threads, ensuring it doesn’t appear in the platforms’ recommended feeds. Mosseri said then, “Our goal is to preserve the ability for people to choose to interact with political content while respecting each person’s appetite for it.”

However, the company has now stated that political content will be featured in the Threads trending topic section if sufficient users engage with a specific story. An implemented machine learning algorithm will analyze discussions and user engagement duration on the platform. The expansion of this feature to other countries is imminent.

This marks a sensitive period for social media companies, especially with the impending U.S. and numerous other elections worldwide in 2024. Companies may face allegations of biased moderation in politics or contributing to the spread of misinformation. Mosseri stated that with the aim of reducing such activity, “Content specialists will review the topics selected by our AI systems.”

These experts will guarantee that the trending content aligns with the company’s Community Guidelines, simultaneously removing posts considered “nonsensical or misleading.” Additionally, Threads’ users will have the option to flag posts they believe violate specific guidelines or contain blatant misinformation. Meta assured users that the trending topics feature would not be taken down for any alternative reasons, a statement intended to reassure those who suspected social media companies of biased concealment of certain political subjects.

Meta hopes that Threads will be able to overtake its rival, X, by becoming more relevant to the conversations people are having in this potentially turbulent year. The network gained 70 million users within a short period after its launch. There is still a long way to go before it can catch up to X, which has an average of over 500 million monthly active users, while Threads only has 130 million monthly active users.