Which company owns the social-networking service Instagram?

Meta Platforms owns the social-networking service Instagram.

Facebook, Inc. acquired Instagram in 2012 for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock. Instagram had been founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger as a photo-sharing application for mobile devices. The acquisition brought the rapidly growing service into Facebook’s corporate portfolio.

Facebook, Inc. changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms in 2021. The rebranding reflected the company’s broader focus on social technology, virtual and augmented reality, and its stated metaverse ambitions. Instagram retained its own name and product identity after the corporate change.

Instagram is sometimes confused with Threads, another Meta-owned social platform launched in 2023. Instagram focuses primarily on photo and video sharing, while Threads was introduced as a text-based conversation service linked to Instagram accounts.