Instagram chief thinks a chronological feed is ‘much worse’ and says the quiet part out loud

9to5google.com Sep 12, 2026

Instagram chief thinks a chronological feed is ‘much worse’ and says the quiet part out loud

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Sep 12, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri criticized a chronological feed, stating it is “much worse” than the algorithmic version. He said users experience a decline in quality, with content from brands and publishers overwhelming personal posts, causing creators and friends to be drowned out. Mosseri cited a 50% drop in engagement when switching to chronological. Australia’s new law will let users opt out of algorithmic feeds, a change Instagram has already implemented in other regions. The platform defaults to algorithmic feeds upon opening.

💡 Why It Matters

· The debate underscores how feed design directly shapes user interaction and content visibility, influencing both individual engagement and the broader ecosystem of creators and brands.

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Meta’s own app leaked Project Phoenix — and the headset looks more…

Meta’s HorizonOS app “HorizonOS Prescription Lens” briefly appeared before being removed, revealing internal images of an unannounced mixed‑reality headset dubbed Project Phoenix. The leaked assets show a lightweight, glasses‑shaped device with a tethered puck and a front camera array, suggesting a controller‑free, hand‑tracking experience. The photos match long‑circulating rumors and indicate a departure from Quest‑style goggles. The leak surfaced just before Meta’s Connect event on September 23, a session titled “practical guide to controller‑free interaction,” hinting at a preview rather than a launch. The headset is expected to reach consumers in early 2027.

💡 The leak confirms Meta’s pivot toward lightweight, glasses‑style mixed‑reality hardware, reshaping expectations for the industry’s next generation of consumer devices.

firstpost.com · Sep 13

Irked by secret recordings, programmer creates app to detect nearby smart glasses:…

A Polish developer, Pawel Szydlowski, launched the ZuckOff app to flag nearby Meta smart glasses by scanning their Bluetooth signals. The tool identifies the devices’ unique identifiers, estimates their distance, and can alert users even when running in the background. Since its debut, roughly 5,000 users have downloaded the app, motivated by viral videos showing glasses recording strangers without consent. The initiative arrives amid heightened scrutiny of AI‑enabled wearables, including Meta’s recent recall of glasses whose LED indicators were tampered with and the company’s claim that its cameras are visibly marked. Szydlowski suggests a broader ecosystem, akin to Apple’s and Google’s tracker alerts, could warn smartphones of any unfamiliar smart‑glass presence, offering a grassroots privacy safeguard.

💡 It gives everyday people a practical countermeasure against covert recording, turning a technical loophole into a public‑level privacy defense.

techedt.com · Sep 13

Meta’s Project Phoenix headset appears in leaked images ahead of Connect

Meta’s upcoming mixed‑reality headset, internally dubbed Project Phoenix, was inadvertently exposed in images embedded in a now‑removed HorizonOS Prescription Lens app. The pictures show a slim, glasses‑like form factor that departs from the bulkier Quest visor design and suggest the device will rely on a tethered processing puck, as indicated by a visible cable. The headset appears to forgo dedicated motion controllers, hinting at a hand‑tracking‑centric interface supported by front‑facing cameras. The leak confirms long‑rumored design shifts toward lighter wearables and prescription‑lens compatibility, and it aligns with earlier reports that Phoenix will prioritize comfort for extended use while offloading compute tasks to an external module.

💡 By moving to a lighter, controller‑free design, Meta aims to make mixed reality more wearable for everyday tasks, potentially expanding its user base beyond current VR enthusiasts.

thestandard.com.hk · Sep 12

Europe eyes battle over ‘pervert’ AI glasses

European regulators and the public are demanding action against Meta’s “pervert” smart glasses after footage of girls and women was secretly filmed and shared online. The glasses, sold in partnership with Ray‑Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, can record, stream, and use AI assistants, with Meta selling seven million pairs in 2025. Britain launched a petition for a ban, while Oslo prohibited the devices in schools and the EU is considering restrictions on facial‑recognition features. Meta has tightened LED‑light tampering safeguards, but concerns over privacy and harassment persist.

💡 The debate underscores how rapidly evolving wearable AI can outpace legal frameworks, exposing users to new privacy risks that traditional tech oversight has struggled to address.

ibtimes.sg · Sep 12

Meta’s Muse Reached No. 2 on App Store, Trusting It Is the…

Meta’s new AI assistant, Muse, entered the U.S. App Store on Thursday and climbed to No. 2 within two days, amassing over 83,000 downloads. The app, available only in the United States at launch, surpassed Meta’s earlier consumer app Threads in initial traction but lagged behind Meta’s own AI app, which drew 108,000 downloads on day one. Muse can perform multi‑step tasks—sending emails, booking travel, and coordinating schedules—while requiring user approval for sensitive actions and providing an audit trail. The app also offers a secure virtual machine and one‑time card numbers for purchases.

💡 Muse’s rapid ascent highlights growing consumer interest in AI‑powered productivity tools, yet its cautious design underscores the ongoing debate over user trust and data security in autonomous applications.

socialnetworkrelease.com · Sep 12

WhatsApp beta reveals Restricted Chat: sensitive chats stay on your main phone…

Meta has introduced a new feature called Restricted Chat in the Android beta version of WhatsApp, according to WABetaInfo. The tool is designed to keep sensitive conversations confined to the primary device, preventing them from being backed up or accessed on secondary devices linked to the same account. While still under development, the feature appears in the beta build and may later be rolled out to the broader user base. Restricted Chat aims to enhance privacy by limiting where messages are stored and displayed, addressing concerns about data leakage across multiple devices. The announcement was part of a broader coverage of social‑network updates by Social Network Release, which also noted its affiliate marketing disclosures and subscription options for readers.

💡 By isolating private chats to a single phone, Meta tackles growing user anxiety over cross‑device data exposure, a key hurdle for broader adoption of end‑to‑end encrypted messaging.