Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian protest leads Instagram to ‘pause’ its new strategy

Kylie Jenner Kim Kardashian Chrissy Teigen Instagram. (Getty Images)
Why are stars like Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian and Chrissy Teigen fed up of Instagram? (Getty Images)

Celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian and Chrissy Teigen have influenced Instagram to pause its rollout of new features.

Some of them include a full-screen feed for video content and 'recommendations' that suggest posts from accounts users aren't following, which have been criticised by stars and users alike for reducing what people see from their friends.

"Based on our findings and community feedback, we're pausing the full-screen test on Instagram so we can explore other options, and we're temporarily decreasing the number of recommendations you see in your feed so we can improve the quality of your experience," a Meta spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.

"We recognize that changes to the app can be an adjustment, and while we believe that Instagram needs to evolve as the world changes, we want to take the time to make sure we get this right."

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Person using Instagram and TikTok apps on phone. (Getty Images)
Many social media users have pleaded with Instagram to 'stop trying to be like TikTok'. (Getty Images)

This follows public backlash from stars with millions of followers, including the 'queen of Instagram' herself, Kylie Jenner.

In response to the recent shift on the platform, the reality star and Kylie Cosmetics founder, 24, shared a meme to her Instagram Story in support of a petition, asking it to return to how it used to be.

"Make Instagram Instagram again," the meme read. "Stop trying to be like TikTok I just want to see cute photos of my friends. Sincerely, Everyone."

Jenner captioned her Story “PLEASEEEEEEE."

Kim Kardashian reposted the same meme to her own page, with the caption, "PRETTY PLEASE.” The message was very clear.

This reminded people of the last time Jenner spoke out about another social media app, Snapchat, which reportedly led the platform to suffer significant financial loss.

"Sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad," she wrote at the time.

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Kylie Jenner. (Getty Images)
Kylie Jenner supported a petition to 'make Instagram Instagram again'. (Getty Images)

Following the recent backlash, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri then posted a video to Twitter explaining the experimental changes, noting that he was aware of the pushback and concern from users.

He had said that while they wanted to "continue to support photos" as its "part of our heritage", he still believes more of Instagram will become video over time, a shift they need to "lean into".

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Mosseri asked for feedback from the users, which Chrissy Teigen then delivered.

She wrote on Twitter, "We don't wanna make videos Adam lol", which has received more than 14.5K likes so far.

Mosseri responded, "If you don't want to make videos, it's better not to. What I want is an Instagram that is about photos who prefer photos, and is about video for those who prefer that format."

But Teigen stayed firm, explaining, "I guess for me it’s not just that I suck at making videos. It’s that I don’t see my actual friend’s posts and they don’t see mine, and I see the same people over and over and over then the feed goes “you’re all caught up!”

The change.org petition 'MAKE INSTAGRAM INSTAGRAM AGAIN', has received nearly 235,000 signatures so far (and counting).

It has asked the platform to 'bring back chronological timelines', 'stop trying to be TikTok', for 'an algorithm that favours photos' and a 'platform that listens to creators'.