Meta Reportedly Considers Breaking Off Reels From Instagram

In many ways, Reels is Instagram now. You can’t scroll on the photo-sharing app for a few seconds before being slapped across the face with algorithmic “suggested for you” video content. Meta, in all its wisdom, is reportedly considering breaking out Reels as its own TikTok-like app just in time to watch the short-form video app’s impending demise.

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri reportedly told staff this week that the higher-ups were considering breaking off Reels into a separate app, according to a report by The Information based on an anonymous source who was in the room at the time. This app would supposedly work just like TikTok, where users scroll down a chain of short-form videos made enticing via what the algorithms already know about you. It’s also similar to YouTube Shorts, and judging by the reported success of the Google-owned platform, advertisers enjoy it when you spend hours of your day mindlessly scrolling.

Meta has always relied on ad dollars, but Instagram may be the real breadbasket for the company’s wider endeavors. The tech giant doesn’t report on the amount of money each app makes, though analysis firm eMarketer reported late last year that Instagram makes up half of Meta’s US ad revenues. In its last quarterly earnings report, Meta said its ad impressions grew 11% while its average price per ad increased 10% in 2024. The company made $160 billion in advertising in 2024, making up the lion’s share of its revenue.

As TikTok burns from the federal government’s initiative to shut down the app’s U.S. operations, Instagram wants to strike while the iron is hot. The app is owned by China-based company ByteDance, and reports indicate the company has considered pulling the app completely. Meanwhile, people in the U.S. have worked to sideload the short-form video app to keep it on their devices in case a full ban takes effect. Instagram has already enabled its own video editing suite akin to ByteDance’s CapCut. Meta regularly tries to ape dying apps, as it did to Twitter with the launch of Threads.

I don’t hate the idea of a separate Reels app. If it means I can see more content from the people I follow on Instagram, then I won’t say no. Still, it doesn’t necessarily mean Instagram will return to the glory days when all you would see is your friend’s baby and food pics (and an occasional image of your friend trying out baby food, or is that just me?). Meta will need to rely ever more on advertising, and a separate Reels app would be just as engulfed with ads as Instagram is now. Instead of one decrepit app, we could have two going through the process of enshittification.

While TikTok remains in limbo, it may still emerge on top. There are signs Jimmy Donaldson, AKA MRBeast, has considered buying the platform. Far more companies and billionaires are lining up to negotiate a deal, all while Vice President JD Vance is supposed to work out a deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S., though somehow divorced from its current China-based owners.

Don’t forget about Instagram’s growing competition. Bluesky is reportedly developing its own photo app called Flashes. Then you have the decentralized app Pixelfed, which just recently gained a mobile app version. Instagram is being marched into the future to the drum beat of Meta CEO Mark “masculine energy” Zuckerberg while being filled to the brim with AI slop. Perhaps the segmentation of Instagram will only lead to more people abandoning the platform for greener pastures.