Instagram changes: no 1000 followers - no live broadcasts

On 1 August 2025, Instagram began rolling out an update that will allow only public accounts with at least 1,000 followers to start live broadcasts. Private accounts and those with less than 1,000 followers are now deprived of this feature. The official support page states: "Only Instagram users who have a public account with 1,000 followers or more will be able to start a Live broadcast."

Why It Matters

This is a serious blow to small content creators, new bloggers, local businesses, and those who broadcast with a small audience. At the same time, this is not an innovation in the industry - TikTok also requires 1,000 followers. But the minimum limit for YouTube is 50 subscribers.

Meta, why?

Meta hasn't provided any official explanation, so we can assume that it may help reduce the cost of streams with a small audience or improve the quality of live content. Live streaming requires a lot of resources from the platform, more than a regular video publication. Although modern technologies have spoilt us a bit, companies are interested in not spending extra resources if it does not directly bring in profit.

What happened in the old days

It used to be like this: anyone with an account older than 30 days, with at least one subscriber and a completed profile (photo, bio, several posts) could start broadcasting - regardless of the number of followers. People were actively using this feature to promote the channel as an alternative content that could interest a new audience.