Instagram and Facebook now deprioritize reposted photos and carousel posts in recommendations, not just Reels. If your content calendar leans on curating or resharing other accounts’ posts, this update directly affects your reach, even if you never touch video.
What Changed
Instagram extended its originality rule, which previously applied mainly to Reels, to photo and carousel posts. Accounts that mostly repost other people’s content without meaningfully editing or adding to it now get deprioritized in the recommendation system. Meta applied the identical rule to Facebook Feed and Reels at the same time, so this is not an Instagram-only change.
The Data Point Meta Published, and Its Limits
Meta says 75 percent of recommended posts in the US now come from what its system classifies as original content. That figure is specific to the US; Meta has not published equivalent numbers for other markets. The rule itself, however, runs globally, so accounts outside the US are subject to the same deprioritization even without a published benchmark to measure against.
What Else Moved Alongside This
A few related changes landed at the same time. Meta’s Advantage+ creative tools can now read the text baked into an image and automatically generate alternative ad versions from it. Meta AI has been connected to both Meta Ads and Google Workspace, so campaign analysis can happen without switching tools. And WhatsApp turned on Search Discovery for local businesses, a change that matters more in markets like India where WhatsApp already functions as a primary storefront for many small and mid-sized businesses.
Why it matters for marketers: if your organic content strategy depends on curating or resharing content from other creators or pages, expect reach to soften globally, not just in the US, even though the only performance data Meta has released is US-specific. This is also the moment to test Advantage+’s new text-reading feature on any static image ad that has plateaued, since it was built for exactly that kind of creative.
What to Do About It
- Audit your last 20 to 30 Instagram and Facebook posts. If most are reposts or reshares with minimal added commentary or editing, expect a reach decline in the coming weeks.
- Shift toward original photo and carousel formats, even simple ones like a screenshot with your own added commentary or a slide breaking down someone else’s idea in your own words.
- Test Advantage+’s automatic creative variant generation on your lowest-performing static image ads before building new creative from scratch.
FAQ: Instagram and Facebook’s Originality Update
Does the new originality rule apply to Facebook too, or just Instagram?
Both. Meta applied the same rule to Facebook Feed and Reels at the same time it extended Instagram’s rule to photos and carousels.
Is the 75 percent original content figure global?
No. Meta has only published that number for the US. The originality rule itself applies globally, but no equivalent performance data has been released for other markets.
What counts as “unoriginal” content under this rule?
Content that is mostly reposted or reshared from other accounts without meaningful editing or added value from the poster.
What is Advantage+’s new creative feature?
It can now read text that appears inside an image and automatically generate alternative ad creative variants based on that text.
