Instagram Hits 3 Billion Users, Adds TikTok-Style Feed Controls

Meta’s Instagram now has more than 3 billion monthly active users, head Adam Mosseri announced on Wednesday. The app’s recent growth, he said, has come from three areas: direct messages, Reels, and recommendations of posts from accounts users don’t already follow.

Because of that, Instagram plans to “reorient the app more around DMs, reels, and recommendations over the next couple months,” Mosseri explained. Following accounts will still matter, but it won’t be the core of the platform the way it used to be.

To balance that shift, Instagram is launching a new feature that lets people adjust the algorithm directly. In settings, users will see a page listing topics Instagram thinks they like. From there, they can add or remove interests to influence what shows up. At first this will affect the Reels tab, before expanding to Explore and Feed.

“I found it actually a really meaningful way to shape the experience and correct Instagram when it’s getting things wrong, and add things that I love that Instagram didn’t figure out that I was interested in,” Mosseri said.

The move mirrors TikTok, which built its dominance around a For You feed powered almost entirely by recommendations, not who you follow. Instagram has been moving in that direction for years, but this latest update makes the shift more explicit.

The key difference is Instagram wants to give users some ability to fine-tune the feed manually. TikTok largely relies on passive signals (likes, watch time, skips), while Instagram’s upcoming ‘Dear Algorithm’ feature (built after a meme that was on Threads) lets you actively tell the app what you do or don’t want to see.

Reaching 3 billion monthly active users is no joke, that’s nearly half the planet using Instagram every month. Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned the milestone on Threads by sharing a classic Breaking Bad meme.