Meta has started rolling out Your Algorithm on Facebook, a feature that lets users describe in their own words what they want to see more or less of across the Feed and Reels. Announced on 13 October 2026, the tool marks the first time the platform’s core ranking system accepts written, natural-language instructions instead of inferring preferences purely from behaviour — a setup Meta frames as “an algorithm you can actually talk to.”
- What it does: Users type free-text requests for more of one topic and less of another, and Meta says recommendations adjust immediately.
- Where to find it: The redesigned three-dot menu on any post opens a “Your algorithm” panel with a standard text entry box.
- Second route: After tapping Interested or Not interested, Facebook may ask follow-up questions answered in the user’s own words.
- What’s missing: No country list, no rollout calendar, no supported languages, and no details on how the typed text is stored or used.
How the controls work in practice
The primary entry point is the three-dot menu attached to every post in Feed and Reels, which Meta says it redesigned to surface these customisation tools. Tapping “Your algorithm” opens a dedicated space the company describes as a place to say exactly what you like, where topics can be added, edited and removed. The panel is essentially a text box: you write preferences in plain language rather than toggling a fixed list of categories.
A second, more granular path runs through the feedback buttons. When a user marks a post as “Interested” or “Not interested,” Facebook may follow up with questions about what specifically appealed or annoyed them, and those answers are free text too. Meta claims ranking then updates in real time and adapts within the same session, so users should not have to wait days for a shift in what surfaces.
Older controls remain in place: the “X” on a post to signal you want fewer similar items, Snooze to pause suggested posts for 30 days, and the Favorites Feed for accounts you follow closely. Those per-post signals have long been criticised for having limited effect on how much similar content keeps appearing.
An algorithm you can talk to — with caveats
Until now, Facebook’s ranking stack inferred taste from engagement: posts liked and commented on, videos watched and, in Meta’s words, “thousands of other signals.” The change is that large language models now also ingest what users write, capturing interest, context and intent that behavioural data alone may miss.
“LLMs can incorporate the interests, context, and intent behind natural language, unlocking an algorithm you can actually talk to. Tell it what you want more or less, and your recommendations respond in real time, adapting within the same session to reflect what matters to you right now.”
Meta has not named the models involved, describing them only as large language models. Nor does the announcement explain what happens to the text once submitted — whether it is stored, for how long, whether it is shared with third parties, or whether it feeds AI training. The company has also not said whether the feature can be switched off, which is why the practical advice circulating is to stick to subjects you would be comfortable having attached to your account.
Facebook arrives last in Meta’s own rollout
The feature is not new to Meta’s portfolio. Instagram introduced “Your Algorithm” for Reels on 10 December 2025, showing an AI-generated summary of the topics it believed a user cared about and letting them raise, lower or replace entries. By June 2026 it had spread to Feed and Explore, and Instagram tested making the panel the centre of the experience with a feed gesture to open it.
Threads took a different route on 11 February 2026 with “Dear Algo,” a public post format where typing the phrase followed by what you want to see adjusts your feed for three days. Meta said that rollout covered the United States, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. Facebook, the oldest app in the group, is the last to receive the natural-language treatment.
The limits of user control
The mechanism is more precise than waiting for an algorithm to guess from dwell time. But the control operates strictly inside the recommendation system, not over it. Nothing in the announcement suggests users can request a chronological feed, suppress recommended content wholesale, or reduce advertising. Asking for “more football and fewer celebrities” is possible; opting out of the ranking engine itself is not.
What remains unanswered is availability. The official blog post is short, with no countries, no timeline, no language list and no concrete examples. Until Meta publishes those specifics, users outside the initial wave will have to check their own three-dot menus to know whether “your algorithm, your words” has actually arrived on their device.