Instagram rolls out Telegram-like broadcast channels globally

A screenshot depicting Instagram broadcast channels (Image source: Meta)

Meta-owned Instagram is expanding its broadcast channels feature to India and across the world, nearly four months after introducing it to help creators directly engage with their followers.

The feature, which appears to be Meta's answer to Telegram channels, allows people to share text, video and photo updates with users who join the channel. Creators can also use voice notes to share their latest updates, "behind-the-scenes moments", and create polls to crowdsource fan feedback, the company said.

Since it is a one-to-many messaging service, followers will not be able to post messages in these channels, and can only react to the shared content or vote in polls. That said, channel creators have the ability to invite people to participate and send messages in the channel through the Collaborators feature.

It's worth noting that broadcast channels are public and any Instagram user will be able to discover the channels and view its content, similar to how Telegram channels work. However, only followers who join the channel will receive notifications in their message inbox, alongside other direct or group message threads.

Instagram stated that once a creator sends the first message from their Instagram inbox, all their followers will receive a one-time notification to join the channel. People can also use the “join channel” sticker in Stories or pin the channel link to their profile to encourage their followers to join them.

People who join a channel will have the option to leave or mute these channels at any time. They will also be able to control channel notifications by going to a creator’s profile, tapping the bell icon and choosing “broadcast channel”, the company said.

The social media platform stated that people will only receive some notifications from channels they join by default, although they can change this setting to "all" or "none".

In India, Instagram stated that channels from accounts such as rapper MC Stan, The International Cricket Council (ICC) and cricket team Mumbai Indians have already garnered a large following among users in the country.

The company also gave a preview of upcoming features they intend to add to broadcast channels. For instance, Instagram is currently testing the ability for creators to use question prompts to gather feedback and responses from followers as well as a dedicated channels tab in the inbox so people can easily access the channels they have joined as well as discover new ones.

Instagram stated that it is also exploring new controls to help creators manage and promote their broadcast channels, such as setting an expiration date and time on their channel, and adding a moderator to help manage members, messages and content among others.

The social media platform noted that broadcast channels will be subject to Instagram’s Community Guidelines. People can report both a broadcast channel itself or specific content shared in the channel, and they will be removed if it goes against their policies, it said.

"We have tools and reviewers to help us identify, review or remove content in broadcast channels that may violate our Community Guidelines — often before anyone sees it," Instagram said in a statement.