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Instagram swoops in with 3-minute Reels and rectangular profile grids as the TikTok ban gets real

Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that Instagram is extending the length of Reels, changing the grid to a rectangular layout and adding a tab where you can see what Reels your friends have liked.

Instagram is rolling out a bunch of changes this weekend that will conveniently make it look a lot more like TikTok, which could go dark in the US on Sunday now that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the law banning the app if parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell it. Nor is the third thing: there’s now a tab in your Reels feed that shows you videos your friends have liked or added Notes to, Mosseri shared on Threads. Didn’t we already agree this was kind of invasive back when Instagram had — and eventually removed — a whole feed dedicated to seeing the activity of the people you follow?

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