Alt Text for Social Media Platforms

Learn more about Social Media Accessibility and Alt Text.

All posts made to Berkeley owned or managed social media accounts after April 24, 2026 are required to meet WCAG 2.1 AA requirements.

All images and non-text content must have a meaningful text alternative. For social media content, it is recommended to include alternative text and an image description.

Alternative Text vs Image Description

Alternative (alt) text is a brief description of an image that is used by users who are blind, have low vision, and all users for whom images don’t load.

• Alt text should describe the main purpose of the image.

• Keep alt text brief. Some platforms may limit alt text to a certain number of characters.

• Provide alt text for GIFs.

Learn more about Alt Text Basics.

Image descriptions should be provided at the end of the post caption. Describe the purpose, context, and content of each image.

• Include important content and information in the image description so it is available to all users.

• Make sure to include any text within the images.

Alternative Text Support for Specific Platforms

Review auto-generated alt text. Some platforms may use AI to auto-generate alt text, but it may not be complete, accurate, or provide the right contextual information. Make sure to review auto-generated alt text to ensure it is accurate and relevant to the post.

Some platforms do not allow editing the alt text after the post is published. For these platforms, it is important to add and review the alt text before publishing content.

If a platform does not support alt text, it is recommended to repost accessible content or describe the content with voiceover.

Alt text Support for Specific Platforms

Last updated: March 19, 2026

Additional Resources

• Edit the alternative text for a post on Instagram
• Edit the alternative text of your post on Threads
• How to add image descriptions (alt text) to X