Tech
Instagram Will Start Letting You Pick What Shows Up in Your Reels
Meta is giving Instagram users a rare glimpse into why certain posts are showing up on their Reels, the platform’s feed of algorithmically curated videos. Starting today, users will now see a list of what Instagram considers to be your top, recent interests. This kind of peek behind the algorithmic curtain is already uncommon in social media apps, but Meta is taking it a step further by allowing Instagram users to influence their algorithm directly by picking topics they want to see more or less often in Reels.
This feature, called “Your Algorithm,” drops as Instagram and TikTok continue to battle for prominence with younger users. It’s these users who potentially want more control over what they’re consuming as they scroll through video feeds, as well as other personalization options. The new feature is landing on Instagram first for those in the US, with a global rollout for English users in the works.
The change arrives around the same time as the European Commission claims Meta will offer users in the European Union more options about how their data is being used for personalized ads. Instagram’s current approach, where users can pay a subscription to not see ads, does not meet the standards for choice set up under the Digital Markets act, according to the EU. Users in this locale are expected to see a choice soon whether to share all their data, or opt for a smaller sliver to be used for advertising purposes.
Instagram currently has the lead in overall app adoption among young users, but TikTok isn’t that far off. According to a 2025 study by the Pew Research Center, 80 percent of US adults under 30 used Instagram whereas 63 percent used TikTok.
When a user opens the new “Your Algorithm” tab on Instagram, they’ll see a brief summary of what they’ve “been into” while scrolling through Reels. The topics displayed are based on recent user activity, and the summaries are made using generative AI. Meta’s examples of topics that users could add with the new feature include “Horror movies,” “Chess,” and “College football.”
Courtesy of Meta
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An initiative by a UK-based charity, supported by technology companies and universities, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital twin that allows people with communications disabilities to speak in a natural way.
The technology, known as VoxAI, represents a step-change from the computer-assisted voice used by late physicist Stephen Hawking, one of the first well-known public figures with motor neurone disease (MND).
The Scott-Morgan Foundation was set up by its founder, roboticist Peter Scott-Morgan, to apply engineering principles to disability after he was diagnosed with MND.
A five-year project led by the trust has developed an AI-powered platform that is helping people with MND, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to communicate in a natural way despite their disabilities.
It was developed by the foundation’s chief technologist, Bernard Muller, who is paralysed with MND and has learned to write code using eye-tracking technology.
The platform brings together AI technologies to create photo-realistic avatars that move in a natural way, with natural facial expressions, and can reproduce the voice of the person using it. It is able to listen to the conversation and offer disabled people a choice of three answers that they could select based on its understanding of the person.
One of the people testing the technology, Leah Stavenhagen, for example, worked as a consultant at McKinsey before she developed MND. The AI she uses has been trained on a book she wrote, along with 30 interviews in English and French.
LaVonne Roberts, CEO of the Scott-Morgan Foundation, told Computer Weekly that while people did not mind waiting to hear what Stephen Hawking had to say, delays in communication usually cause problems for both the speaker and the listener.
“When you have someone that is having to spell something out laboriously, they are fatiguing their eyes, which has been shown to further progression of MND, so we are trying to protect from that,” she said.
“The other thing that happens is people start giving much shorter answers because they don’t have the time to stay in a conversation,” added Roberts. “And, honestly, you end up with awkward pauses.”
The Scott-Morgan Foundation, which demonstrated the technology today at an AI Summit in New York, plans to make the software available free of charge, so that it can be used by as many people as possible. It will also offer a subscription version for more advanced features.
Many off-the-shelf computers and tablets now come with workable eye-tracking, and tracking devices provided by the NHS may also be able to use the technology, said Roberts.
“The idea was to democratise the technology by putting it on the web, giving the license keys, so that people have their voice back again,” she said.
More than 100 million people in the world who live with conditions that severely limit speech – including people recovering from a stroke, or living with cerebral palsy, a traumatic brain injury or non-verbal autism – could benefit from the technology.
The foundation plans to start a two-year trial of the platform, which will track some 20 participants using the technology, led by Mexican university Tecnológico de Monterrey, which will evaluate its impact.
It is also developing a simplified platform that could be used by people who do not have access to Wi-Fi.
Gil Perry, CEO of D-ID, which creates digital avatars for businesses, contributed to the project after the company helped a few people with MND/ALS in ways they found life-changing.
His company joined the project with the Scott-Morgan Foundation about two years ago, after meeting with Roberts. “I saw that LaVonne has the vision and can connect all the dots together, because she has a group of people who just sleep and dream that vision day and night,” said Perry.
The company has improved its technology so that it can create an avatar that shows facial expressions, even for someone whose condition means they are at an advanced stage of immobility.
Roberts said that one of the breakthrough moments came after a mother told the foundation that, although the technology was good, “You just didn’t capture my daughter’s smile”. That sparked work to make the avatars more lifelike. “I remember Erin’s mother crying when she saw Erin on a video, and she was like, ‘That’s her smile’,” she said. “And I knew we were onto something.”
Muller, who architected the platform, said that his avatar not only makes him visible, but also “present”. “When someone sees my avatar smile or shows concern, they are seeing me, not a disability,” he added. “That changes everything about how I connect with the world.”
When 15-year-old Carlee Jade Clements wakes up, her first thought is to record a Get Ready With Me video to share with her friends on TikTok. “I love recording everything and posting it the moment I have it,” says Clements, who lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Like many teenagers, Clements communicates with the world primarily through social media: Snapchat for messaging her friends, Pinterest for inspiration, TikTok for … well, everything. Unlike many teenagers, she also uses social media professionally; Clements has over 37,000 followers on Instagram, where she often posts product reviews (skin care, slime) and photos from her modeling and acting gigs.
But as of December 10, 2025, that will change. That’s when Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age regulation will go into effect, which will prevent Australians under 16 years old from having social media accounts. “It’s gonna be very weird and quiet and isolated,” says Clements. “I’m going to feel like I’m cut off from the world.”
Globally, people are starting to realize how social media can negatively impact adolescents. Even teenagers themselves are seeing this: Almost half of adolescents in the US claim these platforms harm people their age. Australia is the first country to take serious action. In December 2024, legislators passed the Social Media Minimum Age Bill, which will penalize tech platforms (including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube, and Reddit) that allow under-16s to access their platforms.
In response, platforms are locking accounts and adopting age verification requirements. Some platforms, including Meta, started to enforce it early.
Teen content creators are taking steps, too. Zoey Bender, age 14, likes to post GRWM videos and tips: for making friends in high school, for starting seventh grade, for dealing with braces. “I love being creative about it,” says Bender, who has 58,000 followers on TikTok. “It’s my outlet.”
Her handle used to be @heyitszoey. In November, she and her dad, Mark, changed it to @_heyitszoeyandmark, with the hopes that her account won’t be deleted on December 10 because it’s now managed by an adult. She says that many other teenagers with large followings are doing the same; Clements’ mom already manages her Instagram account.
That means that once the age restrictions are in place, their professional accounts will likely still exist—although as teen and kid accounts are suspended, their engagement will likely go down, and they may lose followers, too. That would mean a decline in free products and in revenue, though it’s generally not a huge amount: Ava Jones, 12, who has 11,500 followers on Instagram, estimates that she makes $1,000-$2,000 Australian ($600-$1,300 US) per year, which she generally spends on makeup and clothes. “If that went away, I’d have to do more chores at home,” she says.
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