Meta has added Facebook to its growing list of platforms giving users greater control over the algorithms deciding what appears in their feeds, as Anthony Albanese calls on social media companies to offer clearer choices over how content is recommended.
The feature, which is being deployed globally by Meta, comes as the Australian Government considers proposed laws that could give users the option to opt in or out of algorithmic feeds, allowing them to choose between personalised recommendations and chronological timelines of accounts they follow.
The proposed law ‘My Feed, My Way’ means platforms will be required to send notifications to new and existing users giving them a choice over their default feeds, allowing them to opt out of algorithmic recommendations in favor of chronological feeds from accounts they follow.
At the time of the proposal, leaders including MYCM Creative’s Marta Yortt, Fabulate’s Nathan Powell, We Are Social’s Suzie Shaw and Hello’s Sam Kelly told B&T that while the change would see benefits to online safety it wasn’t enough.
“Switching the algorithm off doesn’t unfollow the accounts you picked up while it was on, so for existing users the content that got them there is still sitting in their feed,” Yortt said at the time.
Facebook becomes the latest platform to take part
Users on Facebook will be able to influence their recommendations through Meta’s new AI-powered feature, ‘Your Algorithm’, which allows people to describe the topics they want to see more or less of in their own words.
Announced on Tuesday, the feature builds on Meta’s existing rollout across Instagram, where users can already customise recommendations by adjusting the topics its AI believes they are interested in.
Rather than relying entirely on automated recommendations, users can communicate directly with Facebook about the content they want to see more or less frequently, with changes reflected in their recommendations in real time.
The platform has also updated its three-dot menu, allowing users to manage their preferences directly from individual posts. From there, they can access ‘Your Algorithm’ or select ‘Interested’ and ‘Not interested’ to signal whether a particular post aligns with their preferences.
Meta says it may ask follow-up questions to better understand what users liked or disliked, giving them the opportunity to provide more detailed feedback and further refine their recommendations.
The Facebook launch follows the feature’s introduction on Instagram Reels on December 10, 2025. The controls expanded globally to English-speaking Instagram users in January 2026 before extending to the main Feed and Explore in June.
Threads has also introduced a related feature, ‘Dear Algo’, which allows users to influence the content recommended to them.
The tool was inspired by users who publicly posted ‘dear Threads algo’ requests, often as a workaround to complain about unwanted recommendations or ask the platform to show them more of particular topics. What began as a social media trend has since evolved into a feature designed to give users a more direct say in their feeds.
While Facebook is the latest platform to introduce these controls, with governments increasingly scrutinising how social media algorithms operate, it remains to be seen whether other platforms will follow suit.
B&T has contacted Meta for comment.
