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Instagram Reaches 3 Billion Monthly Active Users, Zuckerberg Says

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday that Instagram has grown to 3 billion monthly active users, cementing its status as one of the world’s most widely used social media platforms.

The last time Meta disclosed Instagram’s user numbers was in 2022, when the app surpassed 2 billion monthly users.

Meta, then known as Facebook, acquired Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion—a deal that was initially met with skepticism since the app was focused mainly on photo sharing and generated little revenue. Since then, Instagram has become a central part of Meta’s business, with analysts estimating it could contribute over half of the company’s U.S. ad revenue this year.

A key driver of Instagram’s rapid growth has been Reels, the short-form video feature launched in 2020, which directly competes with TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, reported earlier this month that it has more than 1 billion monthly users worldwide, underscoring the intense competition in the short-video market.

TikTok Collected Sensitive Data on Canadian Children, Probe Reveals

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TikTok has pledged to strengthen safeguards to keep children off its platform after a Canadian investigation concluded that the company failed to adequately block underage users and protect their personal information.

The inquiry, led by Canada’s federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne along with privacy watchdogs in Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta, found that hundreds of thousands of Canadian children used TikTok annually despite the platform’s minimum age requirement of 13.

Investigators also determined that TikTok collected sensitive personal data from “a large number” of children and used it for marketing and content-targeting purposes. “TikTok collects vast amounts of personal information about its users, including children. This data is being used to target the content and ads that users see, which can have harmful impacts, particularly on youth,” Dufresne said at a press conference.

In response, TikTok agreed to adopt stricter age-verification systems, improve transparency about how user data is used, and prevent advertisers from directly targeting anyone under 18, except through broad categories such as language or approximate location. The company also expanded the privacy information available to Canadian users.

A TikTok spokesperson said the company was pleased regulators accepted several of its proposals to “further strengthen” protections for Canadian users, while noting disagreement with some of the findings. The spokesperson did not specify which ones.

The case comes amid growing global scrutiny of TikTok due to concerns about its ties to China. TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, and governments worldwide—including the EU and the U.S.—have taken steps to restrict or ban the app on official devices.

In Canada, the government launched a review of TikTok’s planned expansion in 2023, which ultimately led to an order demanding the company shut down its Canadian operations over national security risks. TikTok is challenging that order.

Trump team says TikTok U.S. divestiture deal close, Oracle and Silver Lake among investors

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The White House said Monday that President Donald Trump will soon certify a deal to separate TikTok’s U.S. operations from Chinese parent ByteDance, declaring it compliant with the 2024 divestiture law.

Under the agreement, ByteDance’s stake will fall below 20%, with control shifting to a mix of existing U.S. stakeholders and new investors, including Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake. Additional “household name” investors are expected to be announced, according to a senior official.

Key deal terms include:

  • Oracle will provide U.S.-based cloud infrastructure to store all American user data.

  • Prominent U.S. investors such as Lachlan Murdoch, Larry Ellison, and Michael Dell are expected to participate.

  • The U.S. government will not take a board seat or a “golden share” in the new entity.

  • TikTok’s U.S. assets are valued at “many billions of dollars,” though an exact figure is pending.

The Trump administration is confident Beijing has signed off on the framework, though some paperwork still needs to be finalized. China’s embassy in Washington said it welcomed “productive commercial negotiations” that respected both nations’ laws and interests.

TikTok, with 170 million American users, faced a looming ban after Congress passed a law requiring ByteDance to divest U.S. operations by January 2025. Trump previously extended enforcement to mid-December to allow negotiations. His new executive order will add another 120-day pause to give investors and ByteDance time to close the deal.

The agreement marks a rare breakthrough in strained U.S.–China trade relations and could prevent a forced shutdown of one of the world’s most popular social media platforms in America.