Reality stars Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner criticized Instagram and called on the app to stop trying to imitate TikTok. The sisters, who each have tens of millions of followers, uploaded a story yesterday (Monday) in which they called for “returning Instagram to being Instagram”. Under the bold caption, they added: “Stop trying to be Tiktok, I just want to see cute pictures of my friends.”
The announcement likely follows efforts by Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, to promote short videos on the platforms under the feature Reels. Jenner and Kardashian often market their brands and products on Instagram, so the changes to the app’s interface may harming their marketing efforts and businesses.
Jenner and Kardashian are among social media’s biggest influencers. In 2018, Jenner criticized the redesign of Snapchat, Instagram’s rival, and led to a drop in the stock of the parent company, Snap, and the deletion of $1.3 billion from the company’s market value.
Jenner is the most followed woman on the platform with 360 million followers, slightly more than her older sister’s 326 million followers. In 2019, it was reported on the MarketWatch website that Jenner earns $1.27 million for a sponsored post she uploads on the platform.
Instagram has not yet responded to the sisters’ post.