Social media’s next shift: user-controlled algorithms

For years, social media giants dictated what users saw in their feeds. While people could follow accounts, like posts, or hide content they disliked, recommendation algorithms ultimately controlled the display. Now, platforms are shifting power to users by enabling personalized algorithms powered by AI.

Beyond standard “Not Interested” buttons, apps like Threads, Instagram, and TikTok have introduced tools that let people train their own algorithms and influence feed content. This change marks an evolution in recommendation systems: feeds are moving away from a one-size-fits-all TV channel model toward something more like a streaming service, where users can tune recommendations to their interests and exert greater control over what they see.

For users, the benefit of customizable algorithms is a feed tailored to personal preferences. For social media giants, it’s a strategy to boost engagement by displaying content users are most likely to consume. Here’s a breakdown of how major platforms are giving users more control over their algorithms.

Threads

On June 16, 2026, Threads launched a new “Your Algo” feature, building on its “Dear Algo” tool from February. The earlier tool let users influence their feed by publishing public posts like “Dear Algo, show me more posts about podcasts” to signal content preferences. With “Your Algo,” users can make those preferences privately, without posting publicly. They can tell Threads they want more or less of certain topics and choose how long the request lasts: one, three, or seven days. For example, you could ask to see more baseball content and less stressful news.

Instagram

In early June, Instagram introduced a tool called “Your Algorithm,” which lets you view and control the algorithm across your feed. It shows the topics that shape your recommendations and lets you customize them to better fit your interests. The tool debuted for the Reels feed in December 2025 but is now available across the feed, Explore, and Reels. Once accessed in settings, you see the topics Instagram thinks you care about most. You can then tell the app what you’re interested in and what you want more or less of, and recommendations adapt accordingly. Instagram head Adam Mosseri noted that social media ranking models historically used technology opaque to users, but large language models (LLMs) now make recommendation systems more understandable by showing why content appears and letting users explicitly communicate preferences.

TikTok

TikTok’s “Manage Topics” tool, launched in 2024, gives you control over what appears in your “For You” feed. Accessible in settings, it lets you customize preferences for topics like sports, travel, humor, current affairs, dance, and food. You move a slider to adjust how much you want to see that content. If unsure about video categories, you can click the “information” button next to a topic. For instance, TikTok says the “Creative arts” topic includes painting, drawing, graphic design, and art-related tutorials. In 2025, TikTok expanded the tool with AI-powered Smart Keyword Filters, which automatically limit content containing related keywords, such as synonyms. For example, filtering out “remodeling” also filters out “renovation” and “renovations.”