Meta says it is ‘listening’ after people find their Instagram posts turning up elsewhere

Posts are being pushed onto Facebook – and there is no way to opt out

This photo illustration created in Washington, DC, on July 6, 2023, shows the logo for Threads, an Instagram app, next to its page on the App Store (AFP via Getty Images)

Instagram posts are appearing elsewhere – without the knowledge of the people posting them, and with no way for them to stop it once they do find out.

Users of the company’s new Instagram Threads app are finding that their posts are being automatically pushed into their Facebook feeds.

The company said that it was “listening” to complaints from users who did not want their posts appearing on Facebook. But it does not appear to be offering a way for people to stop it happening.

Meta has often used its various platforms to promote other ones. New apps and features have often been shown in the Facebook news feed especially, as the company looks to introduce them to other users.

Facebook has long shown posts from Instagram Reels, for instance. And companies on WhatsApp can buy ads that show on Facebook.

The new behaviour means that people loading up their Facebook news feed may see posts that their friends have put on Instagram Threads. Users complained that the behaviour was unwanted, however.

“How do I keep my Threads from showing up on Facebook? I want [them] separate and I don’t want my Threads randomly showing up on Facebook in someone’s “for you” or any place else,” one user wrote in response to the company.

In response, it confirmed that it had made the change but did not appear to suggest it would be changed. The update was intended “to make it easier for people to see the latest content from Threads directly on Facebook and Instagram”, it said, but it is “listening to feedback like yours as we continue to build on this”.

Author and YouTuber Hank Green was one of many who pleaded with the company to go back to keeping posts on the various apps separate.

“It’s really true that threads and Facebook have very different cultures and I choose specifically what I want to go where. For other people, that can actually be a little unsafe. Let people opt out. Next time, build that first. Move slow, fix things. We’re doing good here,” he wrote in response to the official Threads account.