When Cybersmile started work on our Stop the Forced Feed campaign in June 2025, we did so with a simple but important warning: social media was undergoing a profound shift in power.
Over time, users had lost meaningful control over the content shaping their online experience. Decisions once made through conscious choice, such as content topics, who to follow, what to engage with, and how feeds were curated, were increasingly being made by recommendation systems operating beyond the view and control of the people they directly affected.
Cybersmile argued that this represented more than a technological evolution. It represented a concerning transfer of power away from users and towards platforms.
Our response was clear. Through Stop the Forced Feed and the principles outlined in our Protect Manifesto, we called for a rebalancing of that relationship. It advocated for greater transparency, meaningful user controls, and a renewed focus on user agency as a foundation of safety and digital wellbeing.
"Stop the Forced Feed was built on a simple belief: people should have control over what they consume. The future of digital wellbeing depends on restoring that agency and rebalancing power between platforms and users."
Scott Freeman, CEO, The Cybersmile Foundation
Cybersmile's Stop the Forced Feed and User Agency
Today, some of the world's largest social platforms are beginning to publicly acknowledge those concerns.
Instagram's CEO, Adam Mosseri, recently announced the expansion of their "Your Algorithm" feature into the main feed of users. First trialed in September 2025, the feature offers users greater visibility and control over how content recommendations are shaped. Alongside the announcement, Mosseri offered a striking assessment of the current state of social media.
"As software gets better at predicting what we want, our sense of agency gets smaller," he wrote.
It is a statement that goes directly to the heart of the issue that Cybersmile has been raising for years.
Cybersmile's Warning on Algorithmic Control and Platform Power
Mosseri went further, acknowledging that as recommendation systems became increasingly dominant, traditional user controls lost much of their influence.
"Who you follow used to be a meaningful tool for shaping your experience," he explained. "As recommendations took over the main feed, that tool quietly stopped working."
Perhaps most significantly, he recognized the imbalance that can emerge when recommendation systems operate without meaningful user input. "The conversation with the algorithm became one-sided," he wrote. "It learns from what you tap, watch, and share — but you don't really get to tell it what you want."
How Cybersmile Defined the User Agency Debate
For Cybersmile, this is a significant moment.
Stop the Forced Feed was built around the belief that people should not simply be passive recipients of algorithmic decisions. Users should be able to understand, influence, and shape the systems that increasingly determine what they see online.
The campaign challenged the idea that recommendation systems should operate as invisible forces directing attention without meaningful transparency or user control. Instead, it argued that platforms should empower individuals with the option to take a more active role in choosing the content they want to consume, just as they do in other areas of their lives such as what they eat, read, and watch.
What makes Mosseri's comments most notable for Cybersmile is not simply the product update itself. It is the language being used to explain it. Concepts such as agency, control, transparency, and user influence have become central to the discussion. These are the same themes Cybersmile has consistently championed through its campaigning, research, public advocacy, and policy engagement.
Platforms Reflecting Cybersmile's Concerns
Over recent years, Cybersmile has helped bring these issues into wider public and policy discussions through engagement with governments, regulators, policymakers, industry stakeholders, and civil society organizations. We have submitted evidence and contributed to discussions involving bodies including the European Commission, Ofcom, parliamentary processes, and human rights stakeholders, helping ensure that user agency became part of the broader conversation around platform accountability and digital wellbeing.
It is increasingly clear that the issue Cybersmile identified through Stop the Forced Feed has moved from the margins into the mainstream. What was once viewed as a niche concern is now being publicly recognized, openly discussed, and addressed by platform CEOs responsible for shaping the experiences of billions of users worldwide.
From Cybersmile Advocacy to Policy and Industry Recognition
Although this is a major milestone for Cybersmile and billions of social media users around the world, this moment should not be viewed as the end of that conversation.
The transfer of power that Cybersmile identified has taken years to develop, and restoring balance will take time. Greater transparency, stronger controls, and more meaningful user choice will continue to be essential if platforms are to create healthier and more empowering environments.
However, there is growing evidence that the direction of travel is changing.
When Cybersmile launched Stop the Forced Feed, we argued that users needed greater agency over the systems shaping their realities. Today, one of the world's largest social platforms is publicly acknowledging that same need and introducing tools designed to address it.
This does not represent the completion of the transfer of power Cybersmile called for. But it represents the beginning of it.
A Turning Point in the Transfer of Power
As platforms continue to evolve, Cybersmile remains committed to ensuring that users are not merely subjects of algorithmic systems but active participants in shaping them. Because digital wellbeing is ultimately about more than safety alone. It is about empowerment, autonomy, and ensuring that people retain meaningful control over their own online experience.
For Cybersmile, this marks a significant step in the realization of a long-standing vision for user agency and digital empowerment.