Instagram has officially changed the rules, and certainly not everyone should be happy.
The Meta-owned platform has what it calls the 'Live' feature, which is essentially a real-time video broadcasting feature within the Instagram app that allows users to stream live to their followers. Introduced in 2016 as part of Instagram Stories, the feature lets users broadcast themselves in the moment, interact with viewers through live comments, and even invite guests to join their stream.
When a user goes live, their profile bubble appears at the front of the Stories bar with a special "Live" badge. Followers receive a notification that the account is live, allowing them to join instantly.
Instagram Live has been widely used by influencers, musicians, educators, businesses, and everyday users for things like tutorials, Q&As, behind-the-scenes content, live performances, product launches, or casual conversations. Its informal and immediate nature helps users build stronger engagement with their audience.
However, as of August 2025, Meta has updated the requirements to access Instagram Live.
This time, only users with public accounts and at least 1,000 followers are eligible to go live. Private accounts and users with fewer followers are restricted from broadcasting, a change that has affected many smaller creators and casual users who previously used the feature freely.
Until recently, any Instagram user could go Live, regardless of their follower count or whether their account was public or private.
That flexibility was especially valuable to smaller creators who used Live for everything from product demonstrations and intimate Q&A sessions to casual chats with friends and followers.
But with the change, which is quietly rolling out to all users, may catch many creators off guard.
The platform has already begun showing notifications to ineligible users, stating: “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.”
Meta’s reasoning behind the shift remains vague.
The company has stated that the change is intended to improve the overall “Live experience” but hasn’t provided any technical or behavioral data to support the claim.
Analysts and industry insiders have speculated several possible motivations. One likely factor is cost. Live video requires significant backend resources—servers, bandwidth, moderation, and abuse detection systems—all of which add up, especially when sessions draw only a handful of viewers. From a business standpoint, scaling back access to those who are statistically more likely to have a real audience could be a cost-saving move.
Another explanation involves abuse prevention. Meta has long battled the misuse of its Live feature for inappropriate content, scams, or harassment.
Bad actors can easily create new accounts, start streaming offensive or harmful content, and disappear before they’re flagged or reported. Raising the eligibility threshold could help mitigate this by requiring accounts to establish a presence before gaining Live access. A 1,000-follower requirement makes it significantly harder for such accounts to scale quickly and act anonymously.
In other words, Instagram Live, a powerful tool for direct, spontaneous communication and content sharing, is now gated behind follower thresholds, shifting its focus more toward creators with established audiences.
At this time, Instagram has increasingly positioned itself as a platform for creators and businesses.
Restricting Live access to accounts with a larger following might be a way to elevate the professional feel of the feature—encouraging polished content over spontaneous, casual interactions. This aligns Instagram more closely with TikTok, which also requires users to have 1,000 followers to go Live, and YouTube, which allows mobile live streaming only once a channel reaches 50 subscribers and is verified.
Furthermore, the new rule applies not only to public accounts but will also extend to private accounts as the rollout continues. This means even the use case of going Live just for a handful of close friends—a feature that Instagram introduced just last year—is being deprecated. Teen users, whose accounts are typically set to private by default and who are already subject to the 16+ age requirement to use Live, are among those most affected.
The community response has been overwhelmingly negative, especially among small creators, hobbyists, and niche influencers.
On platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, and Threads, users are voicing frustrations.
Despite this, Meta appears committed to the change.
With Instagram’s Live new restriction, and how the company wants to me more exclusive than ever, it's aligning with the broader industry trend of gating advanced features behind follower counts, age thresholds, or even paywalls.
In this case, for creators under the 1,000-follower line on Instagram, the message is clear: grow your audience or go silent.