Threads and Instagram users will no longer be able to opt out of being shown political content from people they do not follow, parent company Meta has announced. The head of the platforms Adam Mosseri said it followed Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg's reorienting the company towards "free expression" - a move that saw it ditch fact checkers on Tuesday.

It’s been nearly a year since Instagram and Threads defaulted to blocking recommendations of “political” content from accounts you don’t already follow, but now Instagram boss Adam Mosseri says, “...we’re going to be adding political content to recommendations” on both platforms.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri argued that having political content on Threads comes with too many 'integrity risks.' But Meta's recent push to 'restore free expression' changes all that.

Meta is abandoning the use of independent fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with X-style "community notes" where commenting on the accuracy of posts is left to users.

Less than two weeks before the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, Meta is moving away from its third-party fact-checking program — a cornerstone of its platforms since 2016 — in an effort to return to its “fundamental commitment to free expression,