What’s new in Instagram Plus testing?
Meta tests paid Instagram features in select countries
Meta has begun testing a premium “Instagram Plus” subscription in a few countries. The early, paid tier adds features that change how Stories can be viewed and surfaced, including new options that don’t behave like standard free Stories.
What users get for the subscription
The reported features behind the paywall include:
- Spotlighting one story per week, effectively giving a featured Story more prominence.
- Previewing stories anonymously, meaning users can view content without showing up as a viewer.
- Extending Stories for longer than the standard window, specifically to 24 hours in the cited description.
Why it matters
This is another attempt by Meta to monetize attention inside Instagram without moving the platform toward a completely different product. By selling privacy-adjacent viewing behavior and control over how Stories are presented, Meta is targeting two existing user frictions:
- people who want to consume content without leaving a signal,
- creators and power users who want more time and visibility for Story posts.
What we don’t know yet
The available story text doesn’t specify:
- how widely the test will expand,
- pricing,
- which countries are included,
- whether similar features will later be rolled out globally.
Still, the fact that Meta is testing multiple Story-related changes in a single subscription package indicates it is treating Instagram Plus as a bundled experiment in both engagement and monetization.