‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panelists discuss Meta’s latest moves in the artificial intelligence space. Instagram will let you pay $3.99 a month to preview someone’s Story without appearing on the viewer list, and some users are raising privacy concerns. But parent company Meta is rejecting claims that Instagram Plus reveals who repeatedly viewed a story. The feature shows how many times a story was played in total, a Meta representative told Fox News Digital, but it doesn’t name the people behind those repeat views. Subscribing also adds a search bar to your existing viewer list, making it easy to check if a particular person viewed a story. Another feature, Story Preview, allows paying users to take a quick look at someone else’s Story without appearing on that person’s viewer list. WHAT META’S NEW TEEN RESTRICTIONS MEAN FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Meta says Instagram Plus doesn’t reveal who repeatedly viewed your stories, countering viral privacy concerns about its new $3.99 subscription. (Jens Büttner/Picture Alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images) “Instagram Plus does not give subscribers more information about other people’s viewing habits,” the Meta representative said. The company said it designed the paid features to give users more “connection, expression and control.” META EMPLOYEE ACCUSED OF ACCESSING PRIVATE IMAGES TikTok user @suhaadada said she tried Instagram Plus on a free trial and was “ready to never use Instagram again.” She argued that the repetition number could make a second viewing seem more significant than it is. Someone may simply overlook a story too quickly and go back, he said. Instagram Plus is raising questions about privacy, but Meta says the new feature doesn’t expose users’ viewing habits. (Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images/Getty Images) What disturbed her most, she said, was seeing the timestamps next to the names on her viewing list. He claimed that some names returned to the top with updated times, which he took as a sign that those people had seen his story again. He said he was updating the list throughout the day and was concerned that other subscribers might draw conclusions about their own viewing habits. NEW MEXICO SEEKS MASSIVE PENALTY FROM META AFTER A JURY FOUND TECH GIANT RESPONSIBLE FOR ENDANGERING CHILDREN Meta is pushing back against claims that Instagram Plus allows users to identify viewers who replay stories, saying the $3.99 subscription only shows total replays, not who rewatched. (Getty Images/Getty Images)Other Reddit users have made similar claims about changing timestamps. Those accounts have not been independently verified. Meta said replay counts do not identify individual viewers, but did not directly address user claims that names are moved to the top of the viewer list with updated timestamps. He also objected to story previews because a person posting a story may not see everyone who took a look. Meta confirmed that a subscriber can take a mini preview without appearing in the viewer list, but said that people who post stories are shown a notice explaining that previews may not appear there. The subscription costs $3.99 a month in the US, with prices varying by country, Meta said. It also allows users to extend a story by 24 hours, give a story a more prominent placement, and add posts to their profile or highlights without placing them in followers’ feeds. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP The TikTok user said she would not renew her subscription. Other critics have been just as direct. One Reddit commenter called the features “stalker central,” while another wrote, “PLEASE pay Instagram Wall to finally remove the app.”
