Meta aims to transform its social media platforms into a central hub for various types of content along with conversations. A potential advancement towards this vision is the introduction of Community Chats on Instagram, which could enable group discussions similar to those found in Telegram and Discord.
Developer and coder Alessandro Paluzzi has revealed design elements of this forthcoming feature, offering a glimpse into its functionality. These chat groups will accommodate up to 250 participants at once, allowing users to connect and converse within their community.
However, these chat environments won’t be unregulated. Community Chats will empower creators to appoint moderators who will oversee the discussions. These moderators will have the authority to delete messages that breach community guidelines and can also remove participants if necessary.
In addition, Instagram plans to monitor ongoing community discussions to ensure compliance with its content policies. Yet, it’s still uncertain how the platform might enforce its rules against not just individual members, but also entire chat groups.
Once a community chat is set up, creators will have the option to restrict access, permitting only selected users to join. Additionally, similar to broadcast channels, users will be able to promote their Community Chats on their profile pages.
Why this could go either way
Currently, Instagram’s only community-centric feature is the broadcast channel system. This tool is primarily aimed at creators and influencers, enabling them to share updates through text, videos, and images.
To enhance engagement, interactive features such as polls or questions are also included. Creators can invite other users to collaborate on live updates within the broadcast channel, and exclusive channels can be created for subscribers, although broadcast channels are confined to Professional accounts.
While members can react to polls or questions, they are not able to share their own posts in broadcast channels. This is where Community Chats would come into play, allowing followers to express their thoughts just as they would in other chat platforms like Telegram or Discord.
The major hurdle will be moderation. Meta has already faced criticism for relaxing its content moderation policies, particularly around sensitive topics such as LGBTQ discussions. This change has drawn scrutiny from experts concerned about a decline in community standards.
Implementing effective moderation will be challenging and will require diligent oversight from community members to maintain control over the chat environment. Another concern is the potential for problematic discussions to thrive in invite-only community chats.
Meta has previously drawn fire for allowing harmful material that incites violence and other negative rhetoric to circulate on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. It remains to be seen whether Instagram will successfully manage Community Chats to avoid similar pitfalls.
