Meta has recently enacted a notable alteration to Instagram’s Live functionality, limiting access to only public accounts boasting at least 1,000 followers. This move mirrors a similar path established by TikTok and has elicited concerns among lesser-known creators and users with private profiles.
Since its launch in 2016, Instagram Live has been available to all users, irrespective of their follower count or privacy settings. However, this week, a number of users discovered they could not initiate live sessions, receiving a notification that read:
**”Your account is no longer eligible for Live. We changed requirements to use this feature. Only public accounts with 1,000 followers or more will be able to create live videos.”**
This modification was not previously announced, catching many creators off guard and frustrated. Meta confirmed the updated guidelines to TechCrunch but did not offer a comprehensive rationale, merely indicating that the change seeks to improve the overall Live viewing experience.
TechCrunch speculated that the shift might be driven by financial motives, as hosting live broadcasts incurs substantial infrastructure expenses. By confining the feature to accounts with a broader audience, Meta may aim to optimize resource distribution and guarantee that streams draw a satisfactory number of viewers.
Estimates indicate that merely about 13% to 26% of Instagram users have over 1,000 followers, suggesting that this new condition could bar around 1.7 billion of the platform’s projected 2 billion users from accessing the Live feature. This considerable limitation raises concerns regarding the availability of live streaming for smaller creators and the overall effect on community interaction within the platform.
The alteration has ignited conversations among users, especially those who support smaller creators now barred from using the Live feature. As the social media landscape continues to transform, the consequences of such limitations will likely be closely observed by both users and industry experts.
