Instagram is finally putting an end to the most annoying part of streaming content

One of the most annoying things about opening a social media app is coming across a piece of content, and then the app suddenly decides to refresh the feed before you’ve fully finished watching it. Instagram is one of these platforms and so is X.

It looks like Instagram has made a course correction and will no longer refresh the feed after launching the app unless users physically scroll up or down and move past the page. The change was confirmed by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri in an AMA session.

This was not a mistake, as was said in tech circles. Instead, it was a deliberate UI decision with some technical reasoning behind it. According to Mosseri, the entire system was referred to as a “rug pull,” apparently a cheeky reference to crypto scams where a bad actor suddenly abandoned the project after setting up a bank.

Literary inspirations aside, it was a bad decision. Even Mosseri admitted this. “This is really frustrating,” he joked in an update shared on his Instagram account, discussing recent changes to the platform that users may not be aware of.

So why exactly did Instagram adopt such an annoying tactic? “We did this because we were trying to load content and it was taking a while, so we showed you something that was already downloaded,” Mosseri said. “Usually good for engagement.”

Apparently, the decision to remove the rug-pulling system for loading content on app launch actually had a negative impact, but Instagram ultimately went one step ahead. “We actually got some engagement for it, but it’s a much better experience for the average user,” Mosseri said.

Talking about updates, social media platform owned by Meta recently started A campaign to combat the ills of digital extortion in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The idea is to educate young users about the signs of abusive intent from bad actors.

On a related note, the company also added Further restrictions were placed on accounts owned by users under the age of 16. “Instagram Young Accounts”, as the company calls it, putting guardrails on conversations with strangers and also requires parental consent to fine-tune built-in protections.

A little over a month ago, the company also noted tweaks to the way users communicate on Instagram. These include the arrival of artificial intelligence stickers. Advances offered by Meta AI these are now available on sister social apps.

For ease of access, Instagram users can now pin up to three personal or group chats at the top of their DM sections. There are also other thoughtful features, such as the ability to send silent messages and view content once, reflecting a strategy also present on communication platforms such as WhatsApp.