Instagram Now Requires Users to Have at Least 1,000 Followers to Stream Live

Instagram has informed TechCrunch that users are now required to have a public account with a minimum of 1,000 followers to utilize the live feature. Previously, any user could go live, regardless of their follower count or privacy settings.

This modification presents a substantial hurdle for smaller creators who don’t have the 1,000 followers needed, as well as regular users who enjoyed going live with friends for leisure.

Users without public accounts, and those with fewer than 1,000 followers, will now see a notification when trying to access the live feature, informing them that they don’t meet the eligibility criteria. The notification reads, “We changed requirements to use this feature. Only public accounts with 1,000 followers or more will be able to create live videos.”

Many users have expressed their discontent on social media regarding this new rule, with some calling for its reversal.

This update aligns Instagram’s live functionality more closely with TikTok, which also requires users to have at least 1,000 followers for live streaming. In comparison, YouTube permits channels with as few as 50 subscribers to go live.

Although the company hasn’t explicitly stated the motivation behind this update, it implies that the goal is to improve the overall experience of live content viewing.

This change may help in decreasing the number of low-quality streams by limiting live access to users with established followings.

Moreover, this could also be a cost-reduction strategy for Meta, as hosting livestreams can be costly, leading the company to favor broadcasts with a larger audience.