Instagram will start asking some US users for their race and ethnicity to better understand how people from different communities are affected by the app, the Meta-owned company said Thursday. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said all responses will be encrypted and can’t be connected to a person’s account.
“It’s in our interest to make sure Instagram is as great an experience as it can be for all communities,” Mosseri said in a video posted on Twitter. “If we’re going to make sure that Instagram is fair and equitable as an experience, we need to understand how it is working for different communities.”
A random group of US users will be asked to participate in the survey. A prompt near the top of your feed will take you to a YouGov survey. Instagram said participation in the survey is optional, and your responses won’t limit your experience in the app.
Once the surveys are complete, they will be sent to Instagram’s research partners Texas Southern University, University of Central Florida, Northeastern University and Oasis Labs. These partners will then share an aggregated analysis of the data with Instagram.
“User responses are encrypted and split apart, with distributed algorithmic computations and data storages at different institutions, so no one can link survey responses to Instagram accounts,” said Zhishan Guo, an assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at UCF.
Instagram said these responses won’t be used in its ad systems. Responses will be deleted by YouGov after 30 days, and Meta, Instagram’s parent company, can request the aggregate data to be deleted from the research partners. Because survey responses aren’t connected to a specific account, only Meta can request that the aggregate data to be deleted.
Facebook announced in 2020 that it and Instagram, which it owns, would be stepping up efforts to address challenges minorities face on the platforms. The company also said it would examine potential racial bias in its algorithm and products. This came after Facebook was pressured to combat hateful content on its site after a white police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, in Minneapolis.
Instagram created the Equity team, which was focused on “ensuring fairness and equitable product development.”
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