Instagram walked back its full-screen TikTok-style feed test after user revolt (interview)

In an interview with The Verge published 28 July 2022, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said the app would phase out a test version that opened to full-screen photos and videos and temporarily reduce the number of recommended posts, after a week of mounting criticism of its TikTok-style changes. 'For the new feed designs, people are frustrated and the usage data isn't great,' he said. 'We need to take a big step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward.'

Mosseri recalled recording his explanation video the night before posting it, ironically as the 'Make Instagram Instagram again' meme — reposted by Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian — was growing on Instagram itself. He said public anger had conflated four separate things: the full-screen test, video's long-run growth, recommended posts, and creators' declining reach. In the interview he framed the retreat as risk-taking: 'I'm glad we took a risk — if we're not failing every once in a while, we're not thinking big enough.'

The retreat was explicitly not permanent. Mosseri said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had put recommended content at about 15% of Facebook feeds and an even higher share of Instagram, headed for around 30% by the end of 2023, and that Instagram would return 'with some sort of new idea or iteration' once ranking improved. He pointed to Reels watch time growing 30% the prior quarter (self-reported in the interview, citing Zuckerberg's earnings call) as evidence the shift to video was real.

The full-screen test was phased out within weeks and recommended posts temporarily cut; Mosseri conceded 'the usage data isn't great'

Instagram pushed a full-screen, video-first design on a test group of users to compete with TikTok, and a vocal share of them disliked it intensely.

The backlash was backed by Instagram's own internal usage data, which Mosseri conceded 'isn't great' for the new feed designs.

Celebrity creators whose businesses run on the feed — the Kardashians among them — amplified the revolt to audiences of hundreds of millions.

Four distinct changes (design, video, recommendations, reach) collapsed into a single 'Instagram isn't Instagram' narrative the company had to untangle.

Chasing a rival can outrun what users accept: when your own usage data confirms the complaints, walking back fast and explaining why costs less than defending an unpopular redesign.

Mosseri made clear the walk-back was temporary: Instagram would improve ranking and personalization before growing recommendations again. The same week Meta reported its first-ever quarterly revenue decline, with TikTok the world's most-downloaded app and Apple's App Tracking Transparency having blown what the interview describes as a $10 billion hole in Meta's ad business.