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Instagram to Ask Some Users Their Race and Ethnicity

(Image Credit Google)
In a blog post published on July 28, Instagram announced it would start asking some US users for race and ethnicity data. The reason, the company stated, is to "study how different groups experience the platform."  "It's in our interest to ensure Instagram is as great an experience as it can be for all communities," said CEO Adam Mosseri in a Twitter video post. "If we're going to make sure that Instagram is fair and equitable as an experience, we need to understand how it works for different communities."

Race and ethnicity survey

Only a handful of US users picked out randomly can participate in the survey on the platform, held by the research group YouGov. These users will get a prompt at the top of their feed that will take them to the survey. Instagram says that taking the is optional. In addition, it says that the responses "will not limit the experiences that you have on Instagram, including impacting your reach or how people engage with your content in any way." insta Furthermore, YouGov will send the responses collected to Instagram's research partners. They include - Texas Southern University, University of Central Florida, Northeastern University, and Oasis Labs. Instagram assured users that they would not link back individual responses to user accounts. Instead, its research partners will give it an "aggregated analysis of the data."  Moreover, YouGov will delete the responses after 30 days. Additionally, Meta can request the research partners to delete the aggregated data. 

What's more

In 2020, Instagram created an "Equity team" to study its algorithms for racial bias. It focused on "ensuring fairness and equitable product development." Instagram said in the announcement blog post of the race and ethnicity survey that -  "The survey data will allow us to better understand the experiences different communities have on Instagram, how our technology may impact different groups, and if there are changes we can make to promote fairness. For example, the analysis we conduct with this information might help us better understand experiences different communities may have when it comes to how we rank content."

By Saloni Behl

I always had a crush on technology that\'s why I love reviewing the latest tech for the readers.

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