Instagram has raised some eyebrows recently with the discovery of a mysterious feature lurking in the depths of its code. Dubbed ‘Meta Verified’, this potential new feature has everyone talking, with some speculating it could be part of an effort to flood users’ feeds with content that has been ‘verified’ by the platform.
However, in response to the stir, Instagram has gone on the defensive and denied any active test or launch of the feature. According to company representatives, the ‘Meta Verified’ code is a remnant leftover from past experimentation and never made it into a full-blown feature.
The code for ‘Meta Verified’ was uncovered by a popular platform for tracking API changes called Fixed Today. In a post, they stated, “It seems that Instagram is considering filtering the content its users see based on whether posts have been ‘verified’ or not.” This is particularly intriguing as verifying content is not something that is typically associated with Instagram.
At least publicly, Instagram does not appear to be labeling content as ‘Verified’ in any visible way. It is possible, however, that there is an internal system for metering what content appears in a feed which is based on ‘Verified’ accounts and that the ‘Meta Verified’ code was part of that system.
The discovery of this code has sparked a host of questions about what Instagram could be verifying and why. Could it be that the platform is about to start taking a more active role in curating the content that appears in people’s feeds? Or could it be related to the recent surge in influencer marketing and sponsored posts?
At the moment, there is no way to know for sure, as Instagram appears to be distancing itself from any active testing of its ‘Meta Verified’ code. For the moment, it looks to be a mystery that will remain largely unsolved.
Hey Subscribe to our newsletter for more articles like this directly to your email.