Days after Australia proposed forcing platforms to let users switch off algorithmic ranking, Instagram's head argued that a feed without ranking gets overrun by high-frequency posters and quietly buries friends and creators.
2026-09-12 · by Moe Ameen
Instagram head Adam Mosseri argued on September 10, 2026 that stripping ranking algorithms out of social feeds would make the experience worse for most people, not better. The comments came two days after the Australian government released draft "Digital Duty of Care" legislation whose "My Feed, My Way" provision would require platforms to give users over 16 an easy way to opt out of algorithmically curated feeds and see a chronological feed of the accounts they follow instead.
Mosseri's core claim was mechanical rather than defensive. Without ranking, he said, "the feed for the consumer gets overrun with content from accounts that post the most often" — which in practice means businesses, news publishers, and high-frequency posters, because they post far more than a typical friend or individual creator. He described the result as Instagram moving "to a much less friend-oriented place and a much less creator-oriented place, and towards a much more business, news publisher-oriented place," and said engagement could fall sharply if users are pushed onto chronological feeds. He characterized the people who want chronological feeds as a minority, and predicted that people who switched would end up regretting it.
The Australian proposal, released September 8, 2026 as part of a broader Digital Duty of Care regime, would make platforms notify new and existing users of the feed choice and respect it, with separate provisions turning off recommendation algorithms and infinite scroll by default for users under 16. Reported penalties for non-compliance run to roughly AUD 109 million. The bill is expected to be introduced later in 2026 and to face consultation and negotiation before any final form.
Two pieces of context matter. Instagram already offers a "Following" chronological feed globally, but uptake is low — Mosseri put it at the low single-digit percentages — because most users never change the default. And Australia is not alone: the EU's Digital Services Act (2023) already requires a non-profiling feed option, and a Dutch court separately ordered Meta specifically to offer an easier chronological switch on Facebook and Instagram in October 2025. Treat the fine figure and timeline as reported at the announcement window and confirm against the primary sources, as draft legislation shifts.
The honest read for creators is that this fight is about your distribution, and the safest response is to stop being a hostage to any one platform's ranking — whether it stays algorithmic or gets a legislated off-switch. [Kompozy](/) is built to spread a single idea across surfaces so no one feed decides your week. Bring in a source and it generates the whole set from one [Persona Brief](/glossary/persona-brief) — [Clipped Shorts](/glossary/clipped-short), avatar [Persona Shorts](/glossary/persona-shorts), carousel posts, and short text — then [Autopilot](/glossary/autopilot) schedules and publishes the batch across the eight social platforms behind a per-post review gate. A chronological switch flipping on TikTok or Instagram in one market cannot zero an account that also lands on YouTube, LinkedIn, X, Pinterest, and Threads from the same pipeline.
The part that no opt-out law touches is the owned audience, and it is where Kompozy's breadth matters most here. From the same brief it also drafts an email newsletter to Mailchimp and a blog article to your site — channels that reach the people who chose you, in the order you send them, with no ranking layer in between. That is the structural hedge Mosseri's warning implies: keep winning recommendation reach while it exists, but build a followed, forwardable relationship and an owned list underneath it, so a policy note in Canberra or Brussels changes a slice of your reach instead of all of it. Kompozy does not manufacture engagement; it removes the production ceiling that stops most creators from feeding every surface — algorithmic and owned — at once.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri argues that without ranking, the feed gets dominated by whoever posts most often — businesses, news publishers, and high-frequency accounts — which buries friends and individual creators and makes the experience worse for most users. He says engagement would fall sharply, that people who want chronological feeds are a minority, and that people who switch would regret it. Critics counter that engagement-maximizing ranking is exactly what regulators are trying to rein in.
It is part of Australia's draft Digital Duty of Care legislation, released September 8, 2026. The "My Feed, My Way" provision would require social platforms to give users over 16 an easy way to opt out of algorithmically recommended content and see a chronological feed of accounts they follow instead, notify users of the choice, and respect it. The broader bill also proposes turning off recommendation algorithms and infinite scroll for under-16s, with large non-compliance penalties.
A chronological feed removes the recommendation engine that pushes content to non-followers, so unconnected reach — the main growth driver for most accounts — shrinks. Distribution shifts toward whoever posts most frequently. It makes connected reach (people who already chose to follow you) far more valuable, which rewards accounts users deliberately follow and forward, and it raises the value of owned channels like email and a blog that reach an audience directly regardless of any feed algorithm.
Yes. The European Union's Digital Services Act, in force since 2023, requires large platforms to offer a recommendation option that is not based on profiling. A Dutch court separately ordered Meta specifically, in October 2025, to provide an easier way for Facebook and Instagram users to switch to a non-personalized, chronological feed. Instagram also offers a global "Following" chronological feed already, though reported uptake is in the low single digits because most users never change the default.