Instagram chief Adam Mosseri revealed the company is exploring Flipside, which would transform users’ “finstas”—their distinct, private, and more personal accounts—into a new product feature. Instagram claims Flipside was an internal prototype when it was found last year. She added that the business will now test the functionality with users to see how they react.
The executive warned that a test doesn’t guarantee a feature’s release. That’s uncertain.
“We’re not even sure we’ll launch it on Instagram,” Mosseri commented on Threads on Friday in response to a user who requested Flipside for Instagram’s Threads app. He said, “On one hand, it feels good to create a clear space that feels more private.” On the other hand, it’s another opportunity to reach a smaller audience beyond secondary accounts and close friends. We’ll monitor test responses and iterate, Mosseri said.
Meta also told Eltrys that the functionality was being tested.
“We’re always working on new ways to help people connect with friends on Instagram,” a spokeswoman said. They continued, “We heard people want more options for sharing in private spaces, so we are excited to start testing a new feature where you can create a custom profile, including a custom name, bio, and photo, and share exclusive content with a smaller group of followers.
Finstas, long utilized among Instagram’s younger demographics, gained national attention in 2021 when Senator Richard Blumenthal asked a Meta executive whether the firm would “commit to ending finsta.” The flub showed how technology regulators don’t comprehend it. Meta’s head of safety, Antigone Davis, explained that finstas are not Instagram features. They’re a secret account for close friends only, and they can help you evade parental scrutiny.
Blumenthal found the details confusing, but the bigger issue is how simple it is for kids to create accounts without Instagram’s parental controls. By linking the “finsta” to a user’s main account—by description, you would swipe down on a profile to “flip” to the other, more private “side”—Instagram could better understand the age of the user creating the separate account. Instagram may utilize its age-verification capabilities to identify users by primary account and then convert those settings to Flipside or Finsta.
Reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi showed Flipside in development in December, and Eltrys covered it. In the photographs, Instagram described Flipside as “a new space just for you and your friends” where “only the people you choose can see this side of your profile and what you share here.”
Social media expert Matt Navarra recently posted photographs of Flipside, saying it has been seen in action.
The tool would expand on Instagram’s existing privacy features, such as the Close pals option for Instagram Stories, which restricts post visibility to a pre-selected group of pals. Instagram also tested a feature last autumn that would let users share Instagram Feed posts with Close Friends, a possible Flipside competitor. The Threads app (not the current social network) was where the business tried group talking. However, that app closed in 2021.
Meta has not announced where or on which platforms Flipside is being tested, but users are discussing it on Threads and X, with some liking the idea of an easier way to manage a finsta and others worried about monetization and child safety.
Mosseri’s confirmation of the Flipside test comes ahead of a congressional hearing this week on Big Tech’s online child protection efforts.
