Instagram has made a significant change to its live broadcast feature. Accounts with fewer than 1,000 followers will no longer be able to start a live broadcast. This rule affects millions of users. The new policy went into effect this week without any prior announcement. Many small account owners were met with the message, “Your account is no longer eligible for Live.” when attempting to go live.

Instagram is changing its live broadcast rules

Instagram owner Meta confirmed the decision but did not provide a detailed explanation. The company stated that this move was made to improve the live broadcast experience. The platform has approximately 2 billion users, and it is estimated that only 13 to 26 percent of these users exceed 1,000 followers. This means approximately 1.7 billion users will no longer be able to use the live broadcast feature.

The cost of technical infrastructure is cited as one of the reasons behind the change. The high infrastructure requirements of live broadcasts may have led Meta to choose not to support broadcasts with small audiences. This suggests that the platform is prioritizing larger accounts, which, in turn, generate higher engagement and ad revenue.

Instagram opened its live broadcasting feature to all users in 2016. Since then, anyone, regardless of follower count, has been able to broadcast live. The new regulation ends this inclusive structure. This restriction has limited the live broadcasting experience of small content creators on the platform.

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