Instagram’s Mosseri Warns Against Scrapping Algorithms as Australia Weighs Limits

Instagram pushes back on Australia’s proposal

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri told Australian reporters that without content ranking, Instagram would be far less engaging and creators who depend on it for reach would suffer. His comments followed the Australian government’s plan to legislate limits on engagement-driven algorithms in social apps. The proposal is in consultation and could eventually return Australian users to a chronological feed of accounts they follow — a continuation of Australia weighing algorithm opt-out laws.

According to The Guardian, Mosseri held the briefing to launch “Algo Confessions,” a series in which celebrities discuss how the Instagram algorithm shapes their interests. He didn’t address Australia’s proposed rules directly.

Mosseri’s argument: the pie shrinks

Less use means less reach

“What happens [without algorithms] is people become a bit less interested in the experience and they use [Instagram] a lot less, which then means that there’s less reach to go around and people start to get more and more mad about the fact that their reach is going down because the overall pie gets smaller,” Mosseri said.

Frequent posters take over

He made a similar case on his own account: without ranking, feeds get overrun by the accounts that post most often. Businesses and brands post far more than creators, and creators far more than friends, so Instagram would shift away from friends and creators toward businesses and news publishers. People would see less content overall and creator reach would fall. He added that only a “vocal minority” wants chronological feeds and that people would regret the change.

Where the argument falls short

Social Media Today noted that reduced usage may be precisely what regulators want if the goal is curbing addictive use, and fewer posts seen overall would also mean less exposure to harmful content. A warning framed around business impact may not persuade authorities who view the app differently.

How brands and creators should prepare

Nothing is final, but a chronological feed would change the playbook:

• Timing and frequency matter more: in a latest-first feed, posting when followers are active becomes critical.
• Follower base becomes reach: with less discovery through ranked recommendations, audience-building and paid media carry more weight.
• Creator partnerships get re-priced: if creators lose non-follower reach, estimates of collaboration value change.

Platforms are already handing some algorithm control to users, as when YouTube let users build up to eight custom feeds. Building a channel strategy that doesn’t rely solely on algorithmic distribution is the safer bet.