Instagram: Instagram turns 16, but the internet isn't celebrating

While some users shared their early Instagram grids, replies to the post quickly turned sour. Many users said they wished the app could be undone. Others pointed to concerns about teen mental health, addictive design, and the pressure of a curated online life.

Meta-owned social media platform Instagram turned 16 this week, according to a post by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of its early backers, which marked the milestone with a photo of the app's founders from 16 years ago.

The image shows Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who launched the photo-sharing app in 2010. "Instagram turns 16 today," the post read.

While some users shared their early Instagram grids, replies to the post quickly turned sour. Many users said they wished the app could be undone. Others pointed to concerns about teen mental health, addictive design, and the pressure of a curated online life.

Shooting to fame

Instagram started as Burbn, a location check-in app built by Systrom in 2010. After raising seed money from Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz of about $500,000 as per reports, Systrom brought in Mike Krieger. They stripped the app down to what people used most, which was sharing photos, and added filters, likes, and comments.

Instagram launched on the iOS App Store in 2010 and drew about 25,000 users on day one, and crossed a million within roughly two months, per media reports.

It raised $7 million in early 2011 from Benchmark, and a roughly $50 million round followed in April 2012 at a reported valuation nearly $500 million. An Android version was launched in early April 2012 and was an instant hit.

In April 2012, Facebook announced it was buying Instagram for about $1 billion in cash and stock. The company had around 13 employees and roughly 30 million users.

Instagram hit one billion monthly users in June 2018. Systrom and Krieger resigned that September, with reports citing friction over Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's growing involvement.

Pushback

Once only a photo sharing app, Instagram has grown since.. Promotional and sponsored content is now a major part of the platform and the creator ecosystem has grown -- an 'influencer' is now a widely accepted occupation.

Over the years, the platform has come under scrutiny for its effect on young users. In 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported on internal Facebook research suggesting that the app worsened body image issues among teenage girls. Whistleblower Frances Haugen also brought documents before Congress in support of the same.

In 2023, the US Surgeon General warned that heavy social media use may pose a risk to young people's mental health, and dozens of US states sued Meta, alleging that Instagram was designed to keep children hooked.

In August this year, Meta Platforms agreed to pay a maximum $16.68 billion and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram to resolve claims by 29 states that the company had designed those platforms to get children addicted, misled consumers about their safety, and improperly collected children's personal data.

Reactions

"The benefit to the world if someone could go back in time and nuke this room," one user responded to the picture a16z shared.

"I'm glad they got to make something they love, but, after 16 years, they have to realize their work has been a net negative for society. That's gotta suck," another user wrote.

Some users jumped to the founders' defence, saying that the company itself did not change the world, but Zuckerberg buying it did. "They would have never realised that Instagram will become one of the most hated social apps in the future," one person wrote.

Some comments mocked the app. "Damnnn Instagram is older than the brains of the kids it's frying."

Many comments demanded to bring the "old version" of the app back.