Instagram Is Working on 'Exclusive Stories' Feature That Comes Behind a Paywall

Instagram has reportedly confirmed the development of ‘exclusive stories’ for creators. The feature will essentially allow creators to post stories on Instagram behind a paywall. The development was confirmed to TechCrunch but exact details remain unclear. We also don’t know whether the Facebook-owned platform will introduce a monthly subscription – similar to Twitter’s upcoming Super Follow that will let publications/creators charge money for “exclusive” tweets or will there be any option for pay-per-story. The development of Exclusive Story was first spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi last month. A screenshot of the feature on Twitter reads, “Only members of [user name] can see this story.” Paluzzi added that creators could add exclusive stories to highlights so that new paid users can see them whenever.

The company has been slowly revealing more details about its efforts in this paid space, with Instagram Head Adam Mosseri first telling The Information in May that it was “exploring” subscriptions along with other new features, like NFTs. Recently, Mosseri stated that Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app, and it is working on tools to compete against TikTok and YouTube Shorts. It will essentially show videos from pages that users may not particularly find interesting, but they will have the option to choose their preferred topics. The new recommendation space for videos is currently being tested with select users. The Facebook-owned social media platform will further aim to enhance Creator tools, shopping, and messaging experience to gain an edge over competitions, Mosseri added. Users will soon have access to full-screen videos for a more immersive and “mobile-first” experience. The exact details remain unclear as Instagram Reels, the TikTok competitor, can be viewed in full-screen mode.

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