Meta Platforms chief Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) appeared to shrug off a backlash to recent changes to its Instagram service, using its Q2 earnings call to detail plans to maintain a push towards AI-recommended content.

Zuckerberg confirmed recent reports Meta Platforms had lowered its recruitment targets for the coming 12 months, one of several measures intended to counter economic headwinds the CEO noted are already impacting its digital advertising income.

The impact of the economic downturn “seems worse than it did a quarter ago”, meaning Meta Platforms had slowed work on long-term projects “given the more recent revenue trajectory we’re seeing”.

Zuckerberg pointed to “work on our discovery engine and Reels, our new advertising infrastructure and the metaverse”, explaining Meta Platforms was “focused on being rigorous about measuring returns and sizing these investments correctly”.

Meta Platforms will stand by a policy of deploying AI across Instagram and its main Facebook platform, as social feeds shift from “being driven primarily by the people and accounts you follow” towards AI-recommended content “even if you don’t follow” the creators.

“Social content from people you know is going to remain an important part of the experience and some of our most differentiated content, but increasingly we’ll be able to supplement that”.

A swathe of Instagram users have recently hit out at the changes, berating attempts to make it more like rival TikTok by forcing short-form video set-up Reels on them and generally making it harder to find content from accounts they follow.

During Q2, net income fell 36 per cent year-on-year to $6.7 billion and revenue was 1 per cent lower at $28.8 billion (its first ever year on year quarterly decline).

Across its family of services, Meta Platforms recorded higher daily and monthly user metrics, but the price per advert declined 14 per cent.