You can no longer go live on Instagram unless you have 1,000 followers

It’s hard enough getting into the content creator space without the platform you’re on putting up restrictions. However, Instagram is now the latest social media app to institute such a restriction — forcing people to have at least 1,000 followers before they go live on the site. Previously, Instagram let anyone go live, regardless of account status. 

SEE ALSO: Sam Altman open to ads on ChatGPT, calls Instagram ads ‘kinda cool’

The news first started circulating after smaller creators posted the noticeon other social media channels. 

The notice reads, "Your account is no longer eligible for Live. We changed the requirements to use this feature. Only public accounts with 1,000 followers or more will be able to create live videos."

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Credit: Chance Townsend / Instagram screenshot

TechCrunch followed upwith Instagram and confirmed that the social network giant made this change intentionally. As expected, small creators aren’t fansof the change, and it’s been mostly malignedacross all of social media. Creators with private accounts won’t be able to go live at all, even if the account has over 1,000 followers. Instagram says the change was made to “improve the overall Live consumption experience.”

There are pros and cons to the decision, as TechCrunch notes. On the one hand, small creators will have an even harder time breaking out into the segment than they already do, as accumulating followers without buying themcan be a long and painstaking process. By contrast, Instagram likely removed a lot of low-quality streams this way that only have a couple of viewers each, which makes it easier to find better live content while also saving Meta money. 

This change brings Instagram more in line with TikTok’s live streaming rules. However, the number of followers you need on TikTok can vary, with plenty of people getting accesslong before they reach 1,000 subscribers. As of this writing, Facebook’s Help Centersays that going live on Facebook only requires a 60-day-old account and at least 100 followers. YouTube still allows users to go live after just 50 followers, while Twitch remains the easiest to get started with a 0 follower limit.