Instagram Updates Progress of Equity Team

Instagram provided an update on efforts by the Instagram Equity team that it formed last year to address the challenges that people from marginalized backgrounds may face on its platform. Product lead, equity Rachel Brooks, senior user experience researcher Stacey Houston and Instagram Equity engineering manager Christina Wadsworth said in a blog post that the team’s first order of business was to take a deeper dive into the specific concerns raised by Black users and to build solutions and make changes to make them feel more supported. They wrote, “We’ve spoken with creators, activists, policy minds and everyday people to unpack the diversity of experiences people have when using the platform. We are also in the process of auditing the technology that powers our automated enforcement, recommendations and ranking to better understand the changes necessary to help ensure that people do not feel marginalized on our platform.” The Instagram Equity team will now focus on three key areas: Helping every Instagram employee prioritize building equitable products and tools: The team began an internal program, the Equitable Product Program, to help employees who are responsible for building new products and technologies factor in equity at every step of their work. It has worked with the creator, feed/Stories and Reels teams thus far. It also created machine learning model cards, or checklists to help ensure that new machine learning is designed with equity in mind.Promoting fairness on the platform through technology and automated systems: Brooks, Houston and Wadsworth wrote that some people on the platform felt that their account growth and/or engagement were impacted in ways they did not understand, often referring to it as “shadowbanning.” Instagram found a lack of understand on why people were getting fewer likes or comments; perceptions that its decisions and policies did not consider different communities’ cultural and/or historical nuances; confusion around enforcement; and technical issues. The platform will create tools to provide more transparency around account restrictions or limited reach, as well as direct in-application communication when bugs or technical issues arise.Using Instagram to create more opportunities for economic empowerment: Brooks, Houston and Wadsworth noted that marginalized communities have been disproportionately impacted throughout the course of the pandemic and Black people across the globe have not had equal access to economic opportunities. Parent company Facebook pledged $25 million to Black creators across Facebook and Instagram and rolled out a #BuyBlack sticker in Stories to help people identify and support Black-owned businesses, and more updates and features along these lines are planned for the coming months. Brooks, Houston and Wadsworth concluded, “Our team shows up every day to improve the experiences of marginalized communities on Instagram. Our research over the past year has helped us to better recognize and understand, but we know there will always be more work to do in this space. We’ll continue working tirelessly to help make sure everyone on the platform feels safe to express themselves, empowered by our tools, and supported by Instagram.”

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Instagram Updates Progress of Equity Team

Its first step was a deep dive into the concerns of Black users

David Cohen

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David Cohen