In November 2012, Instagram launched website profiles, allowing anyone to see user feeds from a web browser with limited functionality, as well as a selection of badges, and web widget buttons to link to profiles. Britain's Office of Fair Trading approved the deal on August 14, 2012, and on August 22, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. closed its investigation, allowing the deal to proceed. On April 9, 2012, Facebook, Inc. (now Meta Platforms) bought Instagram for $1 billion (equivalent to $1,346,000,000 in 2024) in cash and stock, with a plan to keep the company independently managed. On April 3, 2012, Instagram released a version of its app for Android phones, and it was downloaded more than one million times in less than one day. On October 6, 2010, the Burbn Beta iOS app was made available through the App Store, though this was still just a prototype only.
User experience
There was no option for users to opt out of the changed Terms of Service without deleting their accounts before the new policy went into effect on January 16, 2013. Correlations have been made between Instagram content and dissatisfaction with one's body, as a result of people comparing themselves to other users. One exception was in January 2020, when Instagram and its parent company, Facebook, Inc., removed posts "that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani to comply with US sanctions". According to the IFJ, Instagram is popular among Iranians because it is seen as an outlet for freedom and a "window to the world".Still, Iran has sentenced citizens to prison for posts made on their Instagram accounts.
Version History
- The company will put suggested posts ahead of posts from people who the user is following in the Instagram feed, citing positive reception as the reason for this change.
- On October 6, 2010, the Burbn Beta iOS app was made available through the App Store, though this was still just a prototype only.
- These researchers found that college students in the U.S. and China watch short-form videos for entertainment, knowledge, and to build social identities.
- On December 16, 2019, Facebook announced it would expand its fact-checking programs towards Instagram, by using third-party fact-checkers organizations false information is able to be identified, reviewed and labeled as false information.
- The feature originally limited photos to the square format, but received an update in August to enable portrait and landscape photos instead.
- Instagram caused the userbase to fall into outrage with the December 2018 update.
Meta issued a public apology, stating that a technical error led to the unintended recommendation of such content. After a period of testing, a duration of up to three minutes was announced in January 2025. Then Instagram started rolling out a new feature with made Reels up to 90 seconds long beginning in June 2022. They are distinguished from regular content by the "sponsored" tag under the account name.
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The first interviewed 15 monthly Californian instagram users with low body image and self esteem, aged 13-21. Suggested posts received more controversy after Fast Company stated that the feature would be impossible to turn off. The company wrote a tweet to users upset at the prospect of the change, but did not back down, nor provide a way to change it back, which they reaffirmed in 2020. It was followed by the release of Hyperlapse in August, an iOS-exclusive app that uses "clever algorithm processing" to create tracking shots and fast time-lapse videos. Commission-enabled posts are labeled "Eligible for Commission" on the user side to identify them as affiliate posts. In November 2018, Instagram added the ability for business accounts to add product links directing spinnaus casino users to a purchase page or to save them to a "shopping list".
The lawsuit claimed that Meta and its Instagram unit repeatedly misled the public about the dangers of its platforms and knowingly induced young children and teenagers into addictive and compulsive social media use. In October, 2023, 42 U.S. states filed a lawsuit against Instagram and parent company Meta, accusing them of contributing to a youth mental health crisis due to the addictive nature of the platforms. The tool used color analysis, metadata components, and face detection of users' feeds. In May 2017, a survey conducted by the United Kingdom's Royal Society for Public Health, featuring 1,479 people aged 14–24 and asking them to rate social media platforms depending on anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying and body image, concluded that Instagram was the "worst for young mental health". In 2015, Instagram was named No. 1 by Mashable on its list of "The 100 best iPhone apps of all time", noting Instagram as "one of the most influential social networks in the world." Instagram was listed among Time's "50 Best Android Applications for 2013" list.
More by Instagram, Inc.
- If you prefer, a dedicated app is available for iOS and Android, offering faster loading times and push notifications.
- This change became permanent and system wide a year later, and now hashtags can only be used to see a selection of curated content from “top” users.
- In contrast, the level of agreement expressed in creating Instagram posts was lower, which demonstrates that Instagram’s emphasis on visual communication is widely accepted by young people in social communication.
- In February 2021, Instagram began testing a new feature called Vertical Stories, said by some sources to be inspired by TikTok.
- Reels focuses on vertical videos that are less than 90 seconds of duration and various features for user interaction.
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At the time of the announcement, it was reported that 80% of Instagram's 600 million users were located outside the U.S., and while the aforementioned functionality was live at its announcement, Instagram also announced its intention to make more features available offline, and that they were "exploring an iOS version". Realizing that it was too similar to Foursquare, they refocused their app on photo-sharing, which had become a popular feature among its users. Although often admired for its success and influence, Instagram has also been criticized for negatively affecting teens' mental health, its policy and interface changes, its alleged censorship, and illegal and inappropriate content uploaded by users. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations, view trending content, like photos, and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed. The backlash originated from an Instagram post and Change.org petition created by photographer Tati Bruening (under the username @illumitati) on July 23, 2022, featuring the statement "Make Instagram Instagram again. (stop trying to be TikTok; i just want to see cute photos of my friends.) Sincerely, everyone.". The move garnered severe criticism from users, prompting Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom to write a blog post one day later, announcing that they would "remove" the offending language from the policy.
In October 2015, it released Boomerang, a video app that combines photos into short, one-second videos that play back-and-forth in a loop. In July 2014, it released Bolt, a messaging app where users click on a friend's profile photo to quickly send an image, with the content disappearing after being seen. Paid verification allowed eligible Instagram users to request verification for their accounts via paying a fee, rather than relying solely on meeting the platform's traditional criteria for verification. It helps users easily identify legitimate accounts amidst the vast number of profiles on the platform.
The photo post had received three likes and countless comments, and in September 2017, the company's algorithms turned the photo into an advertisement visible to Solon's sister. The policy update also introduced an arbitration clause, which remained even after the language pertaining to advertising and user content had been modified. The policy change and its backlash caused competing photo services to use the opportunity to "try to lure users away" by promoting their privacy-friendly services, and some services experienced substantial gains in momentum and user growth following the news. Citing misinterpretations about its intention to "communicate that we'd like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram", Systrom also stated that it was "our mistake that this language is confusing" and that "it is not our intention to sell your photos". In September 2024, Meta paid out a $101 million fine for storing up to 600 million passwords of Instagram and Facebook users in plain text. The Verge wrote that cybersecurity firm RepKnight had found contact information for multiple actors, musicians, and athletes, and singer Selena Gomez's account was used by the hackers to post naked photos of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber.