On Monday (24/9) of USA standard time the shocking news came. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the co-founders of the photo-sharing app Instagram, resigned from their position and plan to leave the company in the coming weeks, as it reported by The New York Times.
“We’re planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again,” Systrom said in statement posted on Instagram Info Center.
He added that they needed to take a step back and understand what inspires them before and match it with what the world needs, implying that his and Krieger leaving is not to be away from the industry but a plan to build something new.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, praised them as creative talents that he's learned from their six years together and wished them “all the best and I’m looking forward to seeing what they build next.”
Questionable departure
Meanwhile, questions on the real reason why they are leaving and the future of Instagram arise. According to TechCrunch, the departure of the duo might be due to the tension mounted this year over Facebook's hand on Instagram's autonomy.
It's understandable if one of the suspicions on their departure is due to concerns on Facebook's way in handling data privacy across all their platforms, including Instagram.
The previous departures of WhatsApp's founders, Jan Koum in April 2018 and Brian Acton in September 2017, have "much more grim circumstances" as put by TechCrunch, and privacy concerns are among the reasons they left WhatsApp's parent company: Facebook.
Acton even tweeted #deletefacebook hashtag after the wake of revelations about Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of Facebook's user data.
It is time. #deletefacebook
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018
Facebook invading Instagram's autonomy
As Facebook getting their backlashes because of the Cambridge Analytica scandal over data privacy, it seemed the giant social media platform led by Zuckerberg tried to push their agenda onto Instagram that has become the darling of internet users for the past few years, especially after the launching of Instagram Stories.
TechCrunch noted that the invasion of Facebook in Instagram platform can be seen in Facebook, which last year confirmed it was adding a shortcut to Instagram to its bookmarks menu. It has since disappeared.
But this year, some Instagram users started getting both Facebook alerts inside their Instagram notifications tab. There are occasions of users seeing a Facebook button with red notification counts inside Instagram’s settings menu.
As of yet, no further comment is made on the resignation, data privacy concerns, or Instagram's autonomy under Facebook.
Source: The New York Times, TechCrunch