An Instagram user who set up a new account with their age listed as 30 was soon being shown a stream of posts about “fertilitymaxxing” – highlighting the opaque way social media algorithms can shape what people see when they are trying to conceive.
The term is used online for advice and routines claimed to improve reproductive health. But the sudden shift in content raised questions about how little users understand about the systems deciding which posts appear in their feeds.
Social media platforms use signals such as age, activity and engagement to personalise content, although the precise workings of their recommendation systems are rarely clear to users.
That lack of transparency can be particularly unsettling around sensitive subjects such as fertility, where people may already be searching for information while navigating anxiety, medical advice and pressure to make the right choices.
Instead of a deliberate search for fertility guidance, the account’s feed quickly became dominated by the subject, illustrating how online platforms can turn a single detail or interaction into a much broader stream of targeted material.
The experience serves as a reminder that what appears on social media is not necessarily a neutral reflection of a user’s interests. It may instead be the result of hidden predictions about what the platform believes they want to see next.
