San Francisco, Oct 2 : Facebook has appointed Adam Mosseri, Vice President of Product, as new head of its photo-sharing app Instagram.

Mosseri replaces Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger who abruptly announced their departure in September.

"We are thrilled to hand over the reins to a product leader with a strong design background and a focus on craft and simplicity, as well as a deep understanding of the importance of community," Systrom and Krieger wrote in a blog post late on Monday.

Mosseri began his career as a designer, managed his own design consultancy, and then joined the Facebook design team in 2008.

He moved from design into product management, and spent time working on Mobile then News Feed and most recently, to Instagram.

In the new role, he will oversee all functions of the business and will recruit a new executive team, including a head of engineering, head of product and head of operations.

"We remain excited for the future of Instagram in the coming years as we transition from being leaders at Instagram to being just two users in a billion," the co-founders said.

Instagram co-founders resigned at a time when social media platforms, including Facebook were facing intense scrutiny over the spread of fake news and sinister campaigns.

Founded in 2010, Instagram was bought by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012.

Instagram's meteoric rise continued after the acquisition, dwarfing the stagnant growth rates of Snapchat and Facebook.

"We've grown from 13 people to over a thousand with offices around the world, all while building products used and loved by a community of over one billion. We're now ready for our next chapter," the co-founders said.

 

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New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Culture allegedly spent Rs 76.13 lakh on print advertisements marking the 100-year celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply.

The information was sought by RTI activist Ajay Basudev Bose, who filed an application seeking details on expenditure incurred by the ministry for advertisements commemorating the RSS centenary.

Bose shared a picture of the reply from the ministry on his official ‘X’ handle.

“It is informed that an amount of Rs 76,13,129 has been spent on advertisement given in various print media by the Ministry of Culture on the occasion of the completion of 100 years of RSS,” the government’s reply stated.

Bose questioned the expenditure in the post X, “when Everyone knows RSS is Not Registered & Does not Pay any Tax is it justified to spend Tax Payers Money on such Private event??”

Reacting to the development, Karnataka’s IT-BT and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge also criticised the spending.

In a post on X, he asked why public money was being used for what he described as a “private ideological project.”

"Modi Sarkar spent Rs 76,13,129 of public money on newspaper advertisements to celebrate 100 years of the RSS. Why is Government spending taxpayers money on an unregistered, non-tax-paying organisation to celebrate their centenary?," he added. 

According to reports, the RSS describes itself as a volunteer-based organisation and has stated that it functions as a body of individuals rather than a registered entity.

Founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925, the organisation is marking its centenary year beginning from Vijaydashami in 2025, with the milestone observed on October 2.