Instagram has disabled the Live Broadcast feature for people who do not have a public account with a minimum of 1,000 followers. Hence, if you are not a famous influencer or content creator, you can not make live videos or interact with your followers. The company has not provided a clarification or explanation for this new restriction that it has imposed. This comes after the tech giant announced that the Live Broadcast feature would be disabled by default for Teen Accounts, but teens over the age of 16 will be able to enable it.
Instagram Live Feature Now Only For Those With 1,000 Followers
According to the photo and video sharing platform’s Help Centre, only Instagram users who have a public account and have 1,000 followers or more can now start a Live Broadcast. While this restriction is currently in place in India, as verified by Gadgets 360, the Adam Mosseri-led social media platform has failed to provide a reason for it. Additionally, the restriction has been imposed on both Android smartphone and iPhone users.
Instagram has not given a reason for the new eligibility criterion
This restriction virtually disallows people who are either not famous or who create content on Instagram from making a live video or interacting in real-time with their friends and other followers. Since the company itself has not given an explanation for introducing the new eligibility criterion, it is hard to ascertain, at the moment, how it will impact small businesses and content creators. However, several Instagram influencers, who do not command a significant following, have garnered a following by interacting with their followers daily. Hence, this could negatively affect them.
Moreover, this is not the first time that the Meta-owned social media platform has restricted the Live Broadcast feature. The company already does not allow Teen Account users to go live without parental or guardian permission, unless they are above the age of 16, in which case they can enable the feature if they wish to do so. For teenagers, the feature has been turned off by default, which is intended to ensure their online safety.
In recent news, Instagram’s parent company, Meta, introduced new safety features for teen accounts on the photo and video sharing app. The tech giant claimed that it will now offer more tools to teenagers while they interact with others via messages on the platform. The company said that teenagers would be shown when the user they are talking with joined the platform, along with the safety tips they should keep in mind while messaging strangers.
