Mixed Signals from Semafor Media

Episode: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri on Algorithms, AI Slop, and How to Beat TikTok

Date: December 19, 2025
Host(s): Max Tani (A), Ben Smith (B)
Guest: Adam Mosseri (C), CEO of Instagram

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the evolution of Instagram in 2025, exploring where social media stands today, Instagram’s push onto the TV screen, challenges from TikTok, and the impact of AI-generated content ("AI slop"). Host Ben Smith, co-host Max Tani, and guest Adam Mosseri discuss the trajectory of social networks, platform differentiation, and the culture war underpinning today's digital spaces. The episode is both a forward-looking strategy session and a frank look at the messy present.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. What is Instagram in 2025?

[03:23–04:39]

• Mosseri: Instagram’s mission is still “to inspire creativity that connects people,” but the how has drastically shifted:
  • Most sharing with friends now happens in DMs (direct messages), not Stories or Feed.
  • Public content consumption is primarily video (i.e., Reels).
  • For most people, Stories is the main "broadcast" method; the Feed is less central than it once was.
• Mosseri’s Snapshot: “It's a lot of DMs and it's a lot of reels right now.” [03:56]

Is Instagram Still a Social Network?

[04:39–05:29]

• Mosseri confirms: “One of our strengths is the fact that you have your friends there… The hook for a lot of people is friend content and their friends.” [04:41]
• Instagram’s “hook” is personal connection, in addition to public entertainment.

Changing Etiquette on Instagram

[05:29–06:23]

• Listener (via host): Should users post daily life updates or just DM friends?

• Mosseri: Stories are now the place for daily life; posting multiple Feed posts in one day is “outside the lines of Instagram etiquette”—it’s called “double Instagramming.” [05:42]

• Cultural trends: An old style (casual daily grid posting) is becoming “cool” again, but the real trend is a move towards “raw,” unprocessed, authentic content rather than “hyper polished, photoshopped… high saturation landscapes.” [06:23]

2. Instagram’s Move onto TV Screens

[07:08–09:17]

• Instagram is launching an app for Amazon Fire TV, adding entertainment channels.
• Smith: “Everything is becoming television.”
• Mosseri: Disagrees Instagram is becoming TV, but notes TV is an essential, under-tapped medium. Instagram wants to be present where people spend attention: “Honestly, I think we’re late to the game, so we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.” [07:30]
• Technical hurdles: TV fragmentation (devices, formats), difficult input methods, but AI and evolving tech are making it easier.

Is Moving to TV a Fundamental Shift?

[09:17–10:13]

• Smith: Suggests Instagram is crossing into the traditional media business.
• Mosseri: Feels this is a slow evolution, not a single threshold event. “I'm constantly concerned about our blind spots… What are the things… we are not?" [09:48]

3. Platform Identity and Competition: Video, Social, and Creators

[10:13–17:42]

• Short-form vs Long-form Video:

  • Strong focus on short-form video, which Mosseri sees as “symbiotic” with messaging and friend connections.
  • Worry: If TV push demands long-form, it might break Instagram's core social nature: “I do not know that connecting people with your friends and long form video can be symbiotic.” [10:27]

• TV Use Cases:

  • Envisions two primary TV uses:
    1. Passive, solo consumption (like on mobile, but on a big screen).
    2. Social, group viewing and content sharing—future potential for social feeds personalized to people in the TV room. [12:26–13:39]

• Will creators make TV-specific content?

  • “That would be a sign of success” but is not the immediate goal. Scaling and usability come first. [14:00]

• Commoditization Risk:

  • Smith notes creators often post identical videos across platforms, risking platforms becoming undifferentiated.
  • Mosseri: Agrees; creators spread their content and brand risk, but Instagram’s advantage is as both a consumption and connection hub, not just broadcasting. [15:10]

4. Competition and Creator Economics

[17:26–18:40]

• Bidding wars for creators?

  • Mosseri: No literal bidding, but indeed fierce competition for creators’ attention and time, especially as power shifts from institutions to individuals.
  • Instagram’s edge: Engagement, adaptability, personal connections between creators.

• Specific Platform Strengths (per Mosseri):

  • TikTok: Best at breaking new talent and discovery via algorithms.
  • YouTube: Best at sustainable payouts to creators.
  • Instagram: Strength in being both a distribution and networking platform for creators.

5. How TikTok’s Algorithm Changes the Game

[21:12–26:04]

TikTok as Data Aggressor

[21:12–22:10]

• TikTok tracks video sharing across all platforms, even encrypted ones—creating unique links and reconstructing threads to maximize growth and data. [21:35]
• “That is a very aggressive thing to do in an encrypted messaging world.” [22:10]

TikTok’s Algorithmic Edge: Exploration-Based Ranking

[23:14–26:04]

• Exploration-based ranking: Algorithm ensures even new, unknown content gets a baseline exposure ("auditioning"), then promotes breakouts.
  • “You try to get every piece of content… 100 views… see how they do… those that outperform get more. That’s how you can see something from someone with 50 followers get millions of views in a couple hours.” [25:00]
  • Balances giving new creators exposure vs. relying on massive established accounts.

6. How Does Instagram Beat TikTok?

[26:04–28:11]

• Challenges:
  • TikTok’s progress has slowed (possibly due to regulatory issues).
  • Instagram is better at monetization, profits.
  • Doubts China-style superApps will work globally; TikTok is getting “complicated, increasingly kind of crazy to get back to.” [27:40]
  • Instagram’s own complexity is a concern as well.

7. Everything Becoming TV: Implications for Culture

[28:11–29:30]

• Hosts reference Derek Thompson’s essay: “Everything is TV” (including passive, visual, and aural consumption).
• Cultural concern: Are we returning to pre-literate “cavemen,” just staring at screens?
• Mosseri: Instagram tries to keep video “lean in”—with social, participatory elements (sends, friends viewing) compared to the “lean back” nature of TV and Netflix bingeing. [28:38]

8. Threads and the Text-Based Platform Wars

[29:30–33:26]

• Threads’ mission: “Just a more like civil platform… not like Kumbaya, but… people can share things without getting destroyed.” [30:04]
• Offers tools to help users avoid pile-ons (limiting replies, disabled quote posts, “hidden words”).
• Meta sees power shifting toward individuals, less toward institutions.
• Threads is doing “fine but at the cost of a certain kind of relevance”—less mainstream discourse than rivals like X (formerly Twitter) or Blue Sky. [31:55]
• Instagram is focusing on building distinct community “verticals” (example: NBA Threads vs NBA Twitter).

9. AI-Generated Content (“AI Slop”) and Content Quality Concerns

[34:23–36:57]

• Smith & Tani: Is AI-generated content ("AI slop") good or bad for Instagram?
• Mosseri: Most AI content is not what people think (“bizarre, weird, fully synthetic”), but rather hybrid—content is augmented, translated, or enhanced by AI.
  • Example: “Every time I post now, I have it translated into Hindi, Spanish and Portuguese… it sounds like me and the lips look like I’m actually speaking Hindi.” [36:07]
• There’s going to always be “slop and non slop”—the challenge is filtering and ranking content value, whether it’s AI-created or not.
• Acknowledges the potential “arms race” in detecting synthetic content as models improve.

10. The Next 5–10 Years of Instagram

[37:12–38:54]

• Short-term: New technology and foundation models (AI) will give users more direct control—adjusting algorithms, shaping feeds, creative tools.
  • “You can kind of touch metal, where you can go in there and just tell it what you want…”
• Medium-term: Feeds and surfaces will become more interactive, customizable.
• Long-term: New form factors (smart glasses) could supplant smartphones as Instagram’s primary platform.
  • Major challenge: How does a visual-first app adapt when next-gen hardware is likely to be audio-first?

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Mosseri on Instagram’s evolution:
  “It’s a lot of DMs and it’s a lot of reels right now.” [03:56]

• On TV launch:
  “Honestly, I think we’re late to the game, so we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.” [07:30]

• On platform differentiation:
  “If everything is undifferentiated, the platforms lose a lot of power.” (Ben Smith recap) [40:28]

• On short-form vs. long-form tension:
  “I do not know that connecting people with your friends and long-form video can be symbiotic.” [10:27]

• On TikTok’s edge:
  “TikTok is good at breaking new talent from small names. YouTube is the best at paying out at scale. Instagram is both a distribution and a consumption hub.” [15:10–17:26]

• On AI-generated content:
  “There's going to be more content that is hybrid, that is AI is used to augment… than is purely synthetic.” [34:56]

• On Threads’ differentiator:
  “Out the gate [we said] we wanted to be… just a more like civil platform.” [30:04]

• On the future:
  “You’ll start seeing it now, but I think it’s gonna be… fundamentally different in two to four years in a way that I hadn’t foreseen only a couple years ago.” [37:12]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------------|---------------| | What is Instagram in 2025? | 03:23–04:39 | | Social vs. Stories: Posting etiquette | 05:29–06:23 | | Raw aesthetic, back-to-basics trends | 06:23–07:08 | | Instagram launches for TV | 07:08–08:14 | | Building for TV: Hurdles and intent | 08:14–09:17 | | Is Instagram crossing into “media”? | 09:17–10:13 | | Short-form vs. long-form debate | 10:13–11:59 | | Envisioned TV habits for Instagram users | 12:26–13:39 | | Platform commoditization and creator strategy | 14:33–17:26 | | Competition with TikTok and YouTube | 17:42–18:40 | | TikTok’s data aggression and algorithm | 21:12–26:04 | | How Instagram can beat TikTok | 26:04–28:11 | | “Everything is TV” & culture | 28:11–29:30 | | Threads’ positioning vs. Twitter, Blue Sky | 29:30–33:26 | | Cultural relevance: pros and cons | 33:26–34:23 | | AI-generated content (“AI slop”) | 34:23–36:57 | | The future of Instagram (5–10 years) | 37:12–38:54 | | Post-interview analysis and recap by hosts | 39:44–43:45 |

Post-Interview Debrief

[39:44–43:45]

• Smith’s Reflections:

  • All platforms are becoming more alike, pulled towards “TV-ness,” but each is trying to maintain differentiation.
  • Instagram’s edge: Social graph and messaging; personal connection is Instagram’s true moat.
  • Short-form video succeeds because it's “symbiotic” with friend sharing—unlike long-form.

• Tani’s Take:

  • Instagram is people’s digital “home base.”
  • On Threads: Seems Meta is “hanging around in the background,” waiting for future opportunity, investing modestly while other text platforms stall.
  • Blue Sky’s user base too “alienating” for mass shift.

Wrap-up

This episode offers a rare, candid look at how a social platform titan is navigating the shifting sands of attention, technology, and culture. From “Double Instagramming” to the nuances of “AI slop,” Mosseri strikes a diplomatic yet direct tone, showing both the opportunities and vulnerabilities facing Instagram as media, algorithms, and user expectations collide.