Instagram introduces a new and surprising step – this is how it will work

Instagram recently revealed that it is lowering the quality of older, less popular videos on the platform, while maintaining higher quality for popular content. Adam Mosari, head of the Meta-owned platform, said on Sunday that “we tend to prefer higher quality for creators who bring in more views.”

Mosari explained that most views of videos occur shortly after their publication, therefore the videos that have not been viewed for a long time receive a lower quality. However, if a video becomes more popular, its quality will improve accordingly.

This announcement raised concerns among many creators, who feared that the move might affect their ability to reach wider audiences. “It’s just not right to change the quality of a person’s video based on their performance,” wrote one creator. According to him, this policy makes people feel betrayed by the platform, whose dependence on performance, metrics and views harms the ability to preserve the quality of the video as the creator intended.

Social media consultant Matt Navarra expressed concern about the move, arguing that it contradicts Instagram’s previous efforts to encourage new creators. “How can new creators gain popularity if their content is penalized for not being popular enough?” he asked. According to him, the policy may create a circle where veteran creators enjoy a higher level of engagement, while those trying to build an audience will have difficulty doing so.

High-quality videos or those that include a lot of visual elements require more processing power and storage space on the company’s servers, which leads to greater expenses for the platform. One of the commenters to Masori noted that he understands the benefits of reducing storage costs, but noted that from the perspective of the creators, investing in quality content that is downgraded to a low resolution is frustrating.

Last May, Instagram announced changes to its recommendation system, designed to give all creators an equal opportunity to break through. Mosori clarified that Instagram does not lower or improve the quality of the videos individually, but does so in an inclusive manner and according to a “variable measure”, adding that the change in quality “is not great”.