On Tuesday, Instagram said it is making changes to the videos it recommends on the dedicated Moments tab on the home screen, including not showing videos with watermarks or logos from other platforms frequently.
“We’ve heard in surveys that people have a less satisfying experience when they see recycled content from other apps or blurred and low resolution content. So we’re making this content less discoverable in places like the Moments tab, ”Devi Narasimhan, a Facebook (FB) spokesman told CNN Business.
Instagram does not mention TikTok by name, but CNN Business previously reported that it is common to see one TikTok video after another while browsing Moments. Some influencers have also acknowledged that they publish their TikToks on Reels.
“It really makes the experience cheaper when people just promote their TikToks with the Reels logo,” said Ricky Ray Butler, CEO of the influential marketing firm BEN. “Instagram has become a TikTok farm.”
Although these types of videos are not often recommended on the Moments tab, they will still be shown to the user’s followers through their profiles or feed.
Instagram launched Reels in the United States in August, but the TikTok clone has struggled to gain traction. Still, Instagram doubled the feature, giving Reels its own button on the home screen and adding more tools, like additional editing features.
Social media experts have pointed out several reasons why Reels didn’t take off, including the cultural impact of TikTok, its powerful content recommendation algorithm and the fact that the app is much more focused than that of Instagram, which has a growing list competing video offers.
Snapchat, which launched its own version of TikTok last year, called “Spotlight”, does not allow users to upload videos with watermarks from different platforms.