Instagram founders Mike Krieger (left) and Kevin Systrom have reportedly resigned from the Facebook-owned app.
James Martin/CNET
The cofounders of Facebook’s photo-sharing app Instagram have resigned their positions and plan to leave the company in coming weeks.
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom and Chief Technical Officer Mike Krieger notified Instagram and Facebook executives of their decision on Monday,the New York Times reported Monday evening. Systrom confirmed the resignations in a company blog post late Monday, saying they were “now ready for the next chapter.”
“We’re planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again,” Systrom wrote. “Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do.”
The resignations come amid heightened criticism that social media platforms aren’t doing enough to police their content after US intelligence agencies determined that the Russian government had used these platforms to disseminate false news and advertisements in an attempt to influence US elections in 2016.
Russians used stolen identities to pose as Americans on Facebook and Instagram, creating Facebook groups, buying divisive ads and posting inflammatory images, according to an indictment unsealed in February that charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups with interfering with the 2016 presidential election.
Facebook said in July it had identified a coordinated effort on its main service and on Instagram to interfere in the US midterm elections. The behavior included posts similar to some that have been identified as Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 election, as well as 30 real-world protests, organized by fake pages.
Founded in 2010 by Stanford University graduates Systrom and Krieger, Instagram has grown from a photo-sharing service into a popular photo app used by more than 1 billion people each month.
Facebook, which bought Instagram for $1 billion six years ago, has been busy integrating features made popular by Snapchat into the app, and those efforts have paid off. The social-networking giant said in November it counted 300 million daily active users using Instagram Stories, which lets people publish a series of photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours.
Facebook representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
First published Sept.24, 7:05 p.m. PT.
Update, 8:20 p.m. PT: Adds Systrom confirmation.
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