‎Instagram App

They appear as circles below the profile picture and biography and are accessible from the desktop website as well. Stories were made available for viewing on Instagram's mobile and desktop websites in late August 2017. A few days later, Instagram announced "Story Search", in which users can search for geographic locations or hashtags and the app displays relevant public Stories content featuring the search term. In January 2017, Instagram launched skippable ads, where five-second photo and 15-second video ads appear in-between different stories. Users can now only receive one direct message from accounts that they do not follow, and must approve the message request before further messages can be sent.

Meta scheduled an end of support for end-to-end encryption in Instagram direct messaging in May 2026. On July 5, 2023, Meta launched Threads, a social network platform connected to Instagram that allows users to make public shortform blog posts comprising text, photos, and videos, as well as to converse with other users and reblog other users' posts. In February 2023, Instagram introduced a new feature allowing users to browse and post GIFs in their comments.

Instagram later restricted the ability to view public profiles without logging in, prompting users to sign in after viewing a limited number of posts. The new app added support for videos (viewing and creating posts or stories, and viewing live streams), album posts and direct messages. The slideshow banner on the top of profile pages, which simultaneously slide-showed seven picture tiles of pictures posted by the user, alternating at different times in a random order, has been removed.

2017: Redesign and Windows app

However, new incidents of illegal drug trade have occurred in the aftermath of the 2013 revelation, with Facebook, Inc., Instagram's parent company, asking users who come across such content to report the material, at which time a "dedicated team" reviews the information. In 2013, the BBC discovered that users, mostly located in the United States, were posting images of drugs they were selling, attaching specific hashtags, and then completing transactions via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp. Zuckerberg stated "We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great." Users are more likely to engage with images that depict fewer individuals compared to groups and they are also more likely to engage with content that has not been watermarked, as they view this content as less original and reliable compared to user-generated content.

Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, Trump was banned from Instagram "indefinitely". Like many social media sites, Instagram employs a combination of automated algorithms, user reports and human review to identify and remove illegal content such as child abuse and encouragement of terrorism. 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. The motives for using Instagram among young people are mainly to look at posts, particularly for the sake of social interactions and recreation. This grew to 150 million in August 2011, and by June 2023, there were over 50 billion photos uploaded to the service.

Initially a purely photo-sharing service, Instagram incorporated 15-second video sharing in June 2013. In December 2014, Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Aden, and Perpetua were five new filters added to the Instagram filter family. In April 2016, Instagram added a "Videos You Might Like" channel to the tab, followed by an "Events" channel in August, featuring videos from concerts, sports games, and other live events, followed by the addition of Instagram Stories in October. In 2022 this was again tested on some users, and in April 2023 the ability to search recent hashtags was removed entirely.

The most-liked photo on Instagram is a carousel of photos from footballer Lionel Messi celebrating winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup, The post has over 76 million likes. The reasons can be for domestic promotion of certain goals or foreign policy objectives. In 2016, Olivia Solon, a reporter for The Guardian, posted a screenshot to her Instagram profile of an email she had received containing threats of rape and murder towards her. Wu stated that this document was an email directly from Mark Zuckerberg, acolades whereas the Post article had stated that their source had declined to say whether the high-ranking executive was the CEO.

Instagram Direct

• In April 2012, Facebook acquired the service for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock.
• In 2021, Instagram announced that like counts would return to be publicly viewable by default.
• In 2013, the BBC discovered that users, mostly located in the United States, were posting images of drugs they were selling, attaching specific hashtags, and then completing transactions via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
• Sharenting is when parents post content, including images, about their children.

In October 2013, Instagram announced that video and image ads would soon appear in feeds for users in the United States, with the first image advertisements displaying on November 1, 2013. She said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September 2013 that the company should be ready to begin selling advertising by September 2014 as a way to generate business from a popular entity that had not yet created profit for its parent company. Meta stated that the test would initially reach a limited number of users, with plans for a global rollout depending on feedback. In December 2024, Instagram announced that it was trialing a feature designed to help users reconnect with content they may have missed from their mutual followers.

In May 2016, Instagram launched new tools for business accounts, including business profiles, analytics and the ability to promote posts as ads. In May 2017, Instagram expanded the augmented reality sticker feature to support face filters, letting users add specific visual features onto their faces. Instagram said that this is to prevent abuse and so that hashtags do not help users gain views, but it has been noted that using hashtags is the only free method for a user to reach past their existing followers. Also in July 2019, Instagram announced that it would implement new features designed to reduce harassment and negative comments on the service. Some users have tried to reach out to Meta through their Meta Verified program, which advertised customer support, but TechCrunch has reported that the customer service is "dismissive" and "unhelpful".

It functions similarly to the Chinese video service TikTok, focusing on allowing users to create short videos already set to existing sounds from other clips. Creators earn money based on the amount of views they receive, or through ad revenue. Reels focuses on vertical videos that are less than 90 seconds of duration and various features for user interaction. Users can also view statistics on their videos and see other user's videos that are trending in the Inspiration tab. The app includes some AI features and the ability to post directly to Instagram or Facebook. IGTV allows uploads of up to 10 minutes in length with a file size of up to 650 MB, with verified and popular users allowed to upload videos of up to one hour in length with a file size of up to 5.4 GB.

People can't buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos. We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action. Instagram has been the subject of criticism due to users publishing images of drugs they are selling on the platform.

It was integrated with Instagram's "Close friends" feature, so that users could send images, photos, and texts privately to others, and also had Instagram's photo editing system embedded into the app. The change was made official in October, with head of product Vishal Shah stating that the feature was underused and that some users were "surprised" when they realized their activity was being surfaced in this manner. However, unlike post likes, the user who posted a comment does not receive notifications about comment likes in their notification inbox. Rumors of a redesign first started circulating in April, when The Verge received a screenshot from a tipster, but at the time, an Instagram spokesperson simply told the publication that it was only a concept.