The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has locked horns with Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner after the pair criticised changes on the social media service as “trying to be TikTok”.
The celebrity sisters posted a message to their hundreds of millions of followers stating, “Make Instagram Instagram Again”, complaining about the company’s new focus on video.
“Stop trying to be TikTok; I just want to see cute photos of my friends,” the post said.
In a video response posted to Twitter, Mr Mosseri said that Instagram expected more and more of the user-uploaded content to become video over time – and that this was something the platform had to adapt to accommodate.
“We’re going to have to lean into that shift,” he said.
The new changes to Instagram include copying TikTok’s algorithmically suggested main feed and Meta pushing “reels”, which are short videos in the style of TikTok content.
Users have complained that the change to the app has undermined their ability to see posts from their loved ones, which Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has historically described as his social media platforms’ primary purpose.
Mr Mosseri said that video content is what Instagram users like, share and generally consume more on the platform – although it will continue to support photographs.
He recognised there were criticisms of the full-screen feed that Instagram was currently testing, and some users complained about it.
He also acknowledged that users complained about receiving more recommendations – posts from accounts they don’t follow.
Mr Mosseri said these were meant to help everyone discover new content and were an “effective and important” way to help content creators reach new people.
Criticism from socialites and social media influencers can significantly impact the platforms’ performance in the stock market.
When Jenner criticised the redesign of Snapchat in 2018 – saying she doesn’t open the app anymore – the company’s shares had a 7% drop.