Meta has announced third-party augmented reality (AR) filters will no longer be available on its apps as of January 2025. This means more than two million user-made filters offered across WhatsApp, Facebook and, most notably, Instagram will disappear.
Filters have become a mainstay feature on Instagram. The most viral of these – which often involve beautifying the user’s appearance – are created by users themselves via the Meta Spark Studio.
But the use of beautifying AR filters has long been connected to worsened mental health and body image problems in young women.
In theory, the removal of the vast majority of Instagram filters should signal a turning point for unrealistic beauty standards. However, the removal comes far too late, and the move is more likely to instead push filter use underground.
Much like the newly announced teen accounts for Instagram, retracting and altering technologies years after the use has been encouraged offers little more than a band-aid approach.
Filters are popular – so why remove them?
Meta rarely volunteers information about technologies and business practises beyond what is absolutely necessary. This case is no different. Meta has previously demonstrated it is unmotivated by user harm, even when its own leaked internal research indicates the use of Instagram and filters contributes to worse mental health for young women.
So, why wait until now to remove a popular (but controversial) technology?
Officially, Meta states it intends to “prioritise investments in other company priorities”.
Most likely, AR filters are yet another casualty of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. In April, Meta pledged to invest between US$35–40 billion in the technology, and is pulling AR technology in-house.
Filters will not be going away altogether on Instagram. First-party filters created by Meta will continue to be available. The offering of filters available on Instagram’s official account (140 at present) is insignificant compared to the library of millions of filters created by third-parties.
Instagram’s official filters also offer less diverse types of AR experiences, and its account does not feature any beautifying filters.
