Instagram Algorithm Puts Risqué Photos On Priority, Study Finds

Instagram is notorious for removing posts of women whose nipples are on display, but it doesn't mean the platform doesn't favor racy photos. That's according to a new study that's claiming IG's algorithm allegedly prioritizes photos showing a lot of skin. 

Researchers from the European Data Journalism Network and AlgorithmWatch discovered this interesting behavior by analyzing Instagram newsfeeds, studying patents, and interviewing content creators.

26 volunteers were asked to install a browser add-on that opens their Instagram homepage automatically at regular intervals and tracks which photos appear on top of their feeds. The volunteers were then instructed to follow content creators who use Instagram for new clients and to advertise their brands. 

Of the 2,400 photos that content creators uploaded on their accounts, 21% were photos of men women in their intimate wear or swimwear. The researchers expected that these photos were likely to least appear, but the opposite happened. Instagram's algorithm had instead shown scantily-clad photos in the volunteers' feeds, making up for 30% of the images shown from content creators' accounts. 

Researchers concluded that images of women showing a lot of skin were 54% more likely to appear in newsfeeds, while bare-chested men were 28% more likely to show. As for posts that show landscape or food, it turned out they were 60% LESS likely to appear in IG feeds. 

AlgorithmWatch reporter Nicolas Kayser-Bril believes that it's Instagram algorithms causing the bias, and with this algorithm bias, content creators will be pushed into posting more revealing photos just so they can gain a lot of followers. It's essentially shaping the behavior of the platform's users. 

The team did admit that it may not be the same for all users and that this bias towards nudity is limited to some users. They are adamant to investigate the matter further by talking to more content creators and recruiting more volunteers. 

Facebook, who owns Instagram, disputed the team's findings and said that the research is "flawed" and it's "a misunderstanding of how Instagram works."

The research team stands by their findings and notes that Facebook had previously published a patent revealing how its newsfeed has the power to choose which images appear first. One of the factors that determine the order of priority is the "state of undress."

While it's evident that users can curate the content they want to see, the researchers believe that Instagram can show photos according to what they think should be seen.