It looks like Instagram is working on a “community chat” feature that will allow people to organize groups of up to 250 people on the app. The as-yet unreleased feature was spotted by developer Alessandro Paluzzi, who has a solid track record of spotting new features in Meta apps.
According to the screenshots shared by Paluzzi, it looks like the community chats will function similarly to Discord. Individual users will be able to create chats on specific topics and control who can join them, although there is apparently a limit of 250 people per community.
Unlike Instagram’s broadcast channels, which allow authors to send messages to their followers, anyone who is in a community chat can participate in the conversation. There are also built-in moderation functions. “Administrators can delete messages and participants to ensure the safety of the channel,” the screenshot says. “We also check the community chat for compliance with our community standards.”
It’s not clear when or if this feature might be launched. An Instagram representative described it as an internal prototype that is not being tested outside the company. But Meta has previously released similar features in its other apps. WhatsApp started experimenting with the Communities feature in 2022, and later that year launched Community Chats on Facebook and Messenger. Mark Zuckerberg said at the time that the feature was designed to help people find “a new way to connect with people who share your interests.”
