Instagram boss responds to backlash against changes, says 'more and more' content on the platform will be video

• Instagram announced changes to its platform which resemble rival TikTok.
• The changes sparked backlash from many users including Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian.

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri released a video Tuesday addressing a backlash to big changes on the company's platform.

Instagram and Facebook, both of which are owned by Meta, announced major changes Friday which seem geared towards imitating the success of rival shortform video app TikTok.

The changes sparked widespread backlash from users including Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, both of whom shared a post appealing to Instagram to "stop trying to be TikTok."

Mosseri said he had heard concerns about a number of changes on the app, including the platform "shifting to video" over photos.

"We're going to continue to support photos. It's part of our heritage," he said.

"That said I need to be honest: I do believe that more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time," he added.

Mosseri said this was reflective of user trends and even if the platform made no changes, more video content would emerge.

"We're going to have to lean into that shift while continuing to support photos," he said.

Mosseri also addressed "recommendations," a feature which shows users posts from accounts they don't follow and is also reminiscent of TikTok.

"We're going to continue to try and get better at recommendations because we think it's one of the most effective and important ways to help creators reach more people," he said.

Mosseri said Instagram will continue to try and put users' friends' posts at the top of their feeds "whenever possible."

"We're also going to need to evolve, because the world is changing quickly and we're going to have to change along with it," he said.

While Mosseri did not mention TikTok by name, Meta perceives the shortform video app as a significant threat to its business.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff Meta faces an "unprecedented level of competition" from TikTok in February, Bloomberg reported.

This isn't the first time Instagram has made changes to look more like TikTok. It launched a video feature called "Reels" in the US in 2020 which closely resembled TikTok's video format.