Meta is steadily working toward transforming its social apps into a hub for all kinds of content and conversation.
The next step in this evolution could be the launch of Community Chats on Instagram, a feature that would bring group chats into the platform, similar to what you’d find on Telegram or Discord channels.
Code sleuth Alessandro Paluzzi recently uncovered visual assets related to the feature, shedding light on how it might function.
Community Chats will allow up to 250 people to join a single group, giving users the chance to share messages and engage in open conversations within the community. However, it won’t be a free-for-all.
Creators will have the option to select admins who can moderate the chats, ensuring that the conversations remain in line with Instagram’s community guidelines. Admins will have the power to remove messages that violate the platform’s conduct policies and can even eject members if necessary.
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On top of that, Instagram will be keeping an eye on ongoing community chats to ensure they comply with its own content standards. While it’s unclear what actions Instagram will take against chats that go off-track, it’s clear that some level of oversight will be involved.
Once a community chat is set up, creators will have the option to keep it exclusive, allowing only approved users to join the conversation. Similar to broadcast channels, users will also be able to promote their Community Chats on their profiles and in the channel itself.
Currently, Instagram offers the broadcast channels feature, which allows creators to post content updates in the form of text, images, and videos, with the added ability to engage users through polls and questions.
These channels, aimed primarily at creators and influencers, offer a way to communicate with fans, but channel members cannot share their own posts—only react to or engage with polls or questions.
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That’s where Community Chats come in, filling the gap by giving users the ability to share their own content and interact in a way that mirrors platforms like Telegram or Discord.
Community chats are not the only feature that Instagram has been testing out lately as the app was experimenting with the dislike button on comments.
However, the introduction of Community Chats could pose a significant challenge when it comes to moderation. Meta has already faced criticism for its handling of content moderation across Facebook and Instagram, especially regarding sensitive topics.
As it loosens its content policies, ensuring that Community Chats don’t devolve into toxic or harmful spaces will be a difficult task.
If Community Chats become invite-only, there’s the potential for problematic discourse to proliferate, as has happened in the past with other platforms.
Meta has received significant backlash for allowing hateful and violent material to thrive on its platforms, despite efforts to curb such content.
The question now is whether Instagram will be able to prevent its new Community Chats from spiraling into chaos or if they’ll add more fuel to the fire but for the now, the feature is just an internal prototype.
