Have you found yourself spending way more time on Instagram lately? Well, it seems that you are not just imagining things. During Meta‘s second-quarter earnings call, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Financial Officer Susan Li revealed that time spent on the Instagram app grew by double digits year over year, pointing directly to new AI-powered recommendation systems as the primary driver behind this “Doomscrolling” growth.
Meta didn’t settle with mere tracking basic signals like past clicks or watch history. Instead, they overhauled how its algorithms evaluate media across its networks. The company achieved a major milestone earlier this year by processing every public Reel and Feed post through large language models to analyze exact topics and underlying tones.
Reading content context to predict user interest
Meta is combining LLM text analysis with a separate AI model family called Muse—designed for automatic video classification and summarization. This way, the firm now builds a far deeper understanding of individual public posts. The algorithm pairs that contextual data with an extended history of user interactions to generate real-time recommendations, Business Insider reports.
This technical overhaul delivered results quickly. Susan Li noted that Meta’s single largest Reels ranking update to date drove a 15 basis point increase in overall sessions, showing particular strength in video reshares and total time spent.
Mark Zuckerberg called this deep processing a critical step toward personalization. He confirmed that Meta plans to roll out the same LLM-powered recommendation framework across Facebook’s main feeds.
Growth momentum meets regulatory heat
Longer sessions give creators broader reach and create more inventory for ads. However, Meta’s engagement push arrives alongside growing legal complications surrounding user safety. More than two dozen US states have filed lawsuits alleging that Meta designed addictive product features targeting younger audiences.
Addressing investors, Li acknowledged that youth-related scrutiny remains a major priority across several markets. The company disclosed $2.40 billion in legal costs associated with ongoing proceedings, with multiple youth-focused lawsuits scheduled for trials later this year.
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