Instagram’s head says engagement falls by half without the algorithm

Instagram head Adam Mosseri told an Australian press briefing that turning off the platform’s recommendation algorithm can cut user engagement by up to 50% and cause satisfaction scores to plunge, because a purely chronological feed becomes dominated by content from brands and publishers. He noted that this drop in time spent and interaction is the metric underpinning Australia’s draft Digital Duty of Care legislation, which would require platforms to prompt users to disable algorithmic ranking.