Recode Decode: Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom in 2017

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are resigning from the company, six years after Facebook bought it for $1 billion. Recode reports that they had grown "increasingly frustrated and agitated with [Facebook CEO Mark] Zuckerberg and Facebook’s increased influence over the app." Here's a bonus episode of Recode Decode — Kara Swisher's interview with then-CEO Systrom from June 2017 — in which he talks at length about why he and Krieger did not leave soon after the acquisition. The episode's original summary is below... *** Instagram CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why he's still working at Facebook five years after it bought his company for $1 billion. Systrom shares what he has learned from the executives there and why he insisted from day one that his new colleagues not call Instagram a "photo-sharing app" — which surprised Mark Zuckerberg. He also addresses allegations that Instagram has "copied" features from Snapchat, saying no tech product is completely original and that it's better for consumers if companies in the same space are constantly trying to one-up each other. Later in the show, Systrom explains why he feels personally responsible to make the internet a safer place, and what he's doing toward that goal.

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