After a long period of small updates and targeted changes, it seems that in 2026 Instagram is planning a broader move. Not a revolution that will change the app overnight, but a series of features that accumulate into a clear directional shift - more tools for creators, more emphasis on paid subscriptions, and more control over content even after it is live.
I'm passing through Kilrush on the first bright, blue-skied day after weeks of non-stop rain and it's warm enough to leave the coat in the car and think perhaps there may be a sniff of spring in the air. I hope I'm not being previous. I'm here to check out two places I've been following on Instagram for a while, having never been to this part of west Clare before.
If you looked at Tatum's Instagram Wednesday, you may have been wondering just that. Tatum post a pic of himself in a hospital gown, with surgical gauze on his head. "Just another day," he wrote. "Another challenge. This one is gonna be hard. But whatever. Let's get it in." But if you were only looking at grid, you made a rookie mistake. Grid is only half the story on IG. Honestly, maybe only 12% of the story.
Instagram is developing a feature that will allow users to remove themselves from someone's "Close Friends" list, Meta told TechCrunch on Friday. The company says the feature is still in the early stages and is not being tested publicly yet. The social network's Close Friends feature lets users share Stories, Reels, and posts with a select group of people, rather than their entire follower base.
Even though white supremacist influencer Nick Fuentes is officially banned from Instagram, his fans are reposting clips of his misogynist, racist, and neo-Nazi content, garnering millions of views, according to Media Matters. The media watchdog organization said that a network of Fuentes' fans, who call themselves "groypers," have been uploading clips of Fuentes' videos. While the video-sharing platform TikTok has banned searches for "Nick Fuentes" and "groyper," Instagram allows such searches.
The FTC said Tuesday it will appeal the November ruling in favor of Meta in its antitrust case against the social media giant. The FTC said it continues to allege that, for more than a decade, Meta Platforms Inc. has "illegally maintained a monopoly" in social networking through anticompetitive conduct "by buying the significant competitive threats it identified in Instagram and WhatsApp."
Instagram is testing out new tweaks that emphasize friends. It also has a new definition of friends: People who mutually follow each other. The Instagram test involves changing a user's "following" count on a profile to a "friends" count. That means if you follow thousands of people, but maybe only a few hundred of those people follow you back, that'll show up as your "friends" count.
Taking to Instagram over the weekend, Niedzwiecki shared a series of images of the pair over the last year. He captioned the images: "A year captured in moments together. I can't wait for all the years to come." The first image sees the pair standing in front of a vintage-looking car covered in white flowers. Niedzwiecki then shared images of the pair at various events and moments.
New data collected by influencer marketing platform Heepsy examined 51 major international airports and their popularity on social media, finding that Singapore Changi Airport has the greatest combined Instagram reach through hashtags, posts and followers. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 With nearly 1 million hashtags, 224k posts and 509k followers, Singapore Changi Airport has the highest Instagram reach (1.7 million) out of the top 10 most popular airports on social media.