How some news accounts on Instagram, including Mo News and Jessica Yellin, are gaining popularity even as the platform tries de-emphasizing political content
In this year's presidential election, more people are turning to Instagram for news, even as the platform tries de-emphasizing “political content.” X: @katie_robertson , @baekdal , @davidsirota , @sapna , @crbustamante , @nbj914 , @anndesbiondi , @pressgazette , @michaelluongo , @gpa_as , and @mediaevan . LinkedIn: Lewis Wiltshire See also Mediagazer X: Katie Robertson / @katie_robertson : Great story from @sapna + @MikeIsaac on the rise of news on Instagram (esp for us millennials), even as the app tries to de-emphasize political content https://www.nytimes.com/... Thomas Baekdal / @baekdal : I'm getting tired of articles about publishers on social channels. It doesn't matter how well you do on social channels. What matters is how that activity translates to your real business. This entire article is useless: https://www.nytimes.com/... David Sirota / @davidsirota : There are more and more “influencers” talking about — and self-monetizing — quick hot takes about the fewer and fewer original reported stories being paid for by dying news outlets doing actual journalism. It's got a real Ponzi scheme feel to it all. https://www.nytimes.com/... Sapna Maheshwari / @sapna : millennials are increasingly turning to Instagram to read and share news, despite Instagram's desire to stay away from the category. @MikeIsaac and i took a dive into the ecosystem: https://www.nytimes.com/... Cesar R. Bustamante Jr / @crbustamante : “As of last year, 16 percent of U.S. adults regularly got news on Instagram, outpacing TikTok, X and Reddit, and up from 8 percent in 2018, according to Pew Research. More than half of that group were women.” https://www.nytimes.com/... Nick Jackson / @nbj914 : 📖 Instagram's Uneasy Rise as a News Site: “'People are very critical and cynical about information they're getting from traditional outlets. It resonates where this guy on Instagram is breaking down the news.'” https://www.nytimes.com/... [image] Ann Biondi / @anndesbiondi : A fascinating read on the rise of Instagram as a news source: https://www.nytimes.com/... Former CNN correspondent @JessicaYellin hopes to engage “news avoiders” via Instagram, assuring them with one simple tagline: “We give you information, not a panic attack.” #MPPR6004Social @pressgazette : Shares of posts from 70 major news accounts on Instagram fell 26% in the week following Adam Mosseri's announcement that the app will not recommend “political content” to users, according to social media management firm Dash Hudson https://www.nytimes.com/... @michaelluongo : this is really interesting as I just had a conversation with some undergraduate students at Purdue on this very topic as much of the news on the Israel-Gaza war is being broadcast by Millennial journalist friends in this manner Bill Russo / @gpa_as : “In December, the State Department offered Mo News an interview with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. Mr. Oinounou said the agency had told him, ‘We understand how people are getting their news.’” Yes we do! Full interview with @Mosheh here: https://www.instagram.com/... Evan DeSimone / @mediaevan : People will alwyas bring news to the platforms where they spend the most time, whether those platforms want it or not. https://www.nytimes.com/... LinkedIn: Lewis Wiltshire : We talk a lot about unbundling and rebundling in the streaming space and in sports broadcasting (especially where those two worlds overlap, which increasingly they do). … See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Meta had already signaled a shift away from dedicated news products and toward creators, while its Facebook strategy increasingly emphasized recommendations from accounts users do not follow. Instagram’s news-account growth therefore sits inside a distribution model built less around publisher destinations and more around creator-style reach.
The earlier spread of text-led Instagram posts showed that news-adjacent information could travel in the platform’s native formats. The current accounts test whether journalism can retain that reach even as Instagram limits recommendation of political content.
First-order effects
- Mo News, Jessica Yellin and similar accounts gain a viable audience channel on Instagram, particularly by packaging news for people who might otherwise avoid it.
- Instagram users seeking news encounter more personality-led, format-native reporting, even while the platform reduces algorithmic promotion of political material.
Second-order effects
- Newsrooms and independent journalists have added incentive to operate as creators: build direct follows, adapt reporting to shareable visual formats, and rely less on a platform news tab or publisher referral model.
- A recommendation policy that constrains political content may make distribution more dependent on audience loyalty and framing, rather than on broad algorithmic discovery; the reported post-share decline among major news accounts underscores that exposure risk.
Third-order effects
- If this pattern persists, social-news distribution may split: high-engagement political audiences remain concentrated on venues such as X’s politics-focused network, while Instagram serves a broader, less overtly political news audience through individual hosts.
- The durable shift is from platform-funded news products to creator-mediated information feeds, extending Meta’s earlier retreat from Facebook News and Bulletin. That can widen access to news but makes publisher reach more contingent on platform rules and creator brands.
The trend: News consumption is moving from publisher-led social distribution toward personality-led, platform-native information formats governed by recommendation systems.