Skip to main content

Instagram’s chief is relocating to Europe, report says

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri is reportedly heading across the pond to live in London.

The move later this year will see Mosseri build out the Instagram team at Meta’s new headquarters in the city’s Kings Cross district, but is also motivated by a personal desire to experience life in the U.K. capital, according to a report in the Financial Times on Monday.

Sources with knowledge of the matter also said that the relocation will be temporary, though they were unable to say for how long he would likely stay in the European city.

The Times’ report suggested Instagram may also be looking to take advantage of the cheaper cost of labor in the U.K., with Silicon Valley rates believed to be considerably higher. The U.K. is currently Meta’s largest engineering base outside of the U.S., so it already has a track record for attracting talent to the British metropolis.

Mosseri joined the company formerly known as Facebook 14 years ago. Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, and when the app’s co-founders left six years later, Mosseri took the top role.

The Instagram boss recently faced a backlash from users after adding new features that seemed like an attempt to make Instagram more like rival app TikTok. The criticism prompted him to ditch the features that were originally designed to increase engagement on the platform and pull in more punters.

News of Mosseri’s apparent relocation plan comes just a week after Meta reported its first revenue fall, highlighting the difficulties the social networking giant is having in maintaining strong ad sales during increasingly tough economic times. Whether a change of scenery will help Mosseri to up his game and give Instagram a boost remains to be seen.

Digital Trends has reached out to Instagram for more information on Mosseri’s reported relocation plan and we will update this article when we hear back.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Bluesky barrels toward 1 million new sign-ups in a day
Bluesky social media app logo.

Social media app Bluesky has picked nearly a million new users just a day after exiting its invitation-only beta and opening to everyone.

In a post on its main rival -- X (formerly Twitter) -- Bluesky shared a chart showing a sudden boost in usage on the app, which can now be downloaded for free for iPhone and Android devices.

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more