‘Make Instagram Instagram again’: Social media platform responds after Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner call it out for copying TikTok

Instagram has drawn criticism from users across the world for adopting a more pro-video approach to its analytics, forgetting it started out as a platform primarily made for photographs. Reality stars turned business moguls Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner were among those who objected, prompting a response from the CEO of Instagram.

On July 25, the makeup mogul and founder of Kylie Cosmetics shared a post on her Instagram story that has been circulating on social media calling on Instagram to stop copying TikTok and bring back photos. Jenner added a “PLEASEEEEEEE” to the share.

Her sister, Kardashian, seemed to be in agreement — she reshared the same post on her Instagram story and wrote, “PRETTY PLEASE”.

The reality TV stars have 686 million followers combined and their reach has crossed over to billions of people in the past. After they called out Instagram, the platform felt obliged to respond. On Tuesday, its CEO Adam Mosseri released a video message addressing the backlash and said they’re working on it in a tweet.

He talked about “experiments” they’re conducting on a small percentage of Instagram users such as the “full-screen feed” to test the features. Addressing the concern about shifting to videos, he said, “We’re going to continue to support photos. It’s part of our heritage.” But he also said, “I do believe that more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time.”

Mosseri explained that it will be happen even if the platform has no hand in it since more and more content creators and consumers are shifting towards videos. He said Instagram plans on supporting photos and taking videos ahead, side by side.

The former Facebook executive also addressed concerns about the “recommendations” feature, which shows users content from accounts they don’t follow. “We’re going to continue to try and get better at recommendations,” he explained, “because we think it’s one of the most effective and important ways to help creators reach more people.”

He concluded by asking people for feedback and netizens did not hold back one bit. Among them was American model Chrissy Teigen who told him straight up that creators don’t want to make videos.

Others also made their opinions very clear.

What do you think about Instagram becoming more TikTok-like?