Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Facebook knew that celebrity posts made Instagram users feel worse

Facebook knew that celebrity posts made Instagram users feel worse

Internal research by Facebook found that some celebrities posted photos that made their followers have a worse self-image.

The more you see celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, and Justin Bieber in your Instagram feed, the more likely you are to have a worse self-image, a leaked Facebook research document says.

The research, revealed by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) this week, found that people who followed some of Instagram's biggest social media stars including the Kardashians, Ariana Grande and Katy Perry experienced more negative social comparison, meaning they compared themselves unfavourably to the celebrity images they were seeing.

By contrast, followers of Will Smith, Brazillian footballer Neymar and film star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson reported feeling less negative social comparison, Facebook's researchers found.

Almost half the content people see on Instagram comes from celebrities, the research said.

Footballer Neymar at a fashion event in Paris.


"[We] may want to offer people the option to hide celebrities temporarily," a member of Facebook staff commented on the document released by the WSJ.

While celebrities' Instagram posts tended to make people feel worse, their Instagram Stories had the opposite effect, leading Facebook's researchers to wonder if the disappearing message format was associated with more positive feelings due to its "unpolished" style.

Teenagers most affected


The research, entitled "Social comparison on Instagram," surveyed 100,000 people in March and April 2020 in nine countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Teenagers were more prone to negative social comparison than adults, the research found.

In general, women and teenage girls were more likely to experience negative social comparison, the research said. The only exception to that trend among the nine countries featured in the document were Indian men.

Another strong driver of negative social comparison for Instagram users were posts with more likes than a user's own, as well as heavily edited selfies and beautifying filters.

Instagram introduced the option to hide likes on posts earlier this year. According to the report, opting in to hide likes - described in internal Facebook language as "Pure Daisy" - led to a two per cent reduction in negative social comparison on average.

Fixing Instagram


The research report also gives some insight into how Facebook hoped to solve the issue of negative social comparison on Instagram.

A series of suggestions includes the option to hide likes - which the company implemented earlier this year.

Other suggestions included encouraging "top accounts" to "share more vulnerable content" and finding ways to reduce users' exposure to the kinds of posts that were most associated with negative comparisons.

The researchers also suggested that the company works with celebrities whose followers experienced the highest levels of negative comparison to produce "realness campaigns" to address the issue.

A Facebook spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that while survey respondents were not asked to name specific accounts, researchers found the celebrity accounts were "some of the most frequently seen accounts for people who told us they experienced either higher or lower levels of negative social comparison on Instagram," based on the company's internal data.

The spokesperson noted the findings made sense because the celebrities listed have more than 30 million followers each.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×