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Instagram
ConceptQ209330· pop 162· linked from 39,033 articles

Also known as Instagram.com, Instagram Inc., Insta, the Gram

Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags, and be associated with a location via geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with preapproved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations, view trending content, like photos, and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed. A Meta-operated image-centric social media platform, it is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and the web. Users can

AI overview

Instagram is a social media platform where people share photos and short videos that can be edited with filters, organized with hashtags, and tagged with locations—either publicly or just with approved followers. Users can browse content by tags and locations, follow other people to see their posts in a personal feed, and interact by liking photos.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

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Key facts

Software.name
Instagram
Software.logo
frameless|upright=0.5frameless|upright=0.7|class=skin-invert
Software.logo_caption
Signature wordmark used since May 2016 and icon app used since May 2022
Software.screenshot
Instagram screenshot (12 January 2026, 16h30m39s, UTC -3).png
Software.caption
Wikipedia's Instagram page on January 12, 2026.
Software.collapsible
no
Software.developer
Meta Platforms
Software.released
in San Francisco, California, US
Software.ver layout
stacked
Software.language count
33
Software.license
Proprietary

via Wikipedia infobox

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

70 sections
Contents
  • History
  • 2010–2011: Beginnings and major funding
  • 2012–2014: Additional platforms and acquisition by Facebook
  • 2015–2017: Redesign and Windows app
  • 2018–2019: IGTV, removal of the like counter, management changes
  • 2020–present
  • Features and tools
  • Hashtags
  • Explore
  • Photographic filters
  • Video
  • IGTV
  • Edits
  • Instagram Reels
  • Instagram Direct
  • Instagram Stories
  • Interface redesign tests (2025)
  • Verified badges on Instagram
  • Advertising
  • Stand-alone apps
  • Third-party services
  • Fact-checking
  • Algorithm and design changes
  • Mental health
  • Internal data from Meta
  • Depression, anxiety and stress
  • Body image
  • Loneliness and social exclusion
  • Eating disorders
  • Suicide and self-harm
  • Sharenting risks
  • Addiction
  • User characteristics and behavior
  • Users
  • Demographics
  • User behavior
  • Performative activism
  • Censorship and restricted content{{anchor|Allegations_of_censorship}}
  • Illicit drugs
  • Women's bodies
  • Criticisms and controversies
  • Censorship by countries
  • China
  • Cuba
  • Iran
  • North Korea
  • Russia
  • Turkey
  • United States
  • Reception
  • Awards
  • Mental health
  • Negative comments
  • Culture
  • Security
  • Content ownership
  • Facebook acquisition as a violation of U.S. antitrust law
  • Algorithmic advertisement with a rape threat
  • Human exploitation
  • July 2022 updates
  • Propaganda usage
  • Wrongful account bans
  • Statistics
  • In popular culture
  • System
  • See also
  • Explanatory notes
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags, and be associated with a location via geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with preapproved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations, view trending content, like photos, and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed. A Meta-operated image-centric social media platform, it is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and the Web. Users can take photos and edit them using built-in filters and other tools, then share them on other social media platforms like Facebook. It supports 33 languages including English, Hindi, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Korean.

Instagram was originally distinguished by allowing content to be framed only in a square (1:1) aspect ratio of 640 pixels to match the display width of the iPhone at the time. In 2015, this restriction was eased with an increase to 1080 pixels. It also added messaging features, the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post, and a Stories feature—similar to its main competitor, Snapchat, which allowed users to post their content to a sequential feed, with each post accessible to others for 24 hours. As of January 2019, Stories was used by 500 million people daily.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Instagram” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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