Facebook’s former News Feed chief will take over Instagram

Instagram has officially named a successor to outgoing CEO Kevin Systrom. 

Adam Mosseri, who previously ran Facebook’s News Feed before moving to Instagram as VP of Product, will take over the role as Instagram’s top exec, the company announced. 

The announcement comes one week after Instagram’s cofounders unexpectedly announced their departure from Facebook, fueling rumors that there were growing tensions between Instagram’s leadership and Facebook’s. 

“We’re confident that under Adam’s leadership, Instagram will evolve and improve and we look forward to the future of the product and community,” Systrom and Instagram cofounder Mike Krieger wrote in a statement announcing the change. 

Though the move was widely expected, it lines up with speculation that Facebook has been looking to increase control over Instagram. Though Mosseri had recently moved over to Instagram during Facebook’s larger executive shakeup, he is most known for his prior role running Facebook’s News Feed.

In addition to overseeing arguably Facebook’s most important product, Mosseri has become a more public face for the company over the last year. As media companies increasingly criticized News Feed changes for negatively affecting publishers, Mosseri became a very public defender of News  Feed, and sought to reassure publishers. He, like a small handful of other high profile Facebook execs, is active on Twitter, where he regularly chats with journalists and responds to criticism.

The biggest question, now, is how much Instagram will change under Mosseri’s leadership (his official title is “Head of Instagram.”) 

Though Instagram had long remained relatively autonomous within Facebook, reports have indicated that autonomy was beginning to disappear, with Mark Zuckerberg asserting more control over the photo sharing app in the wake of Facebook’s many privacy scandals. By instilling Mosseri, who is close with Zuckerberg, as the new head of Instagram, much of that tension is likely to disappear. 

It could also signal that Instagram will soon be integrated more closely with Facebook (Instagram’s founders were reportedly upset that Facebook recently removed Instagram links from user’s Facebook profiles when they cross-posted photos to the social network). 

 In a post on his personal Instagram account, Mosseri thanked Systrom and Krieger for their “incredible” work. 

“I’m humbled and excited about the opportunity to now lead the Instagram team. I want to thank them for trusting me to carry forward the values that they have established,” he wrote.