Tati Bruening was once the textbook example of an Instagram user. Since the pandemic, she has been building her career as a photographer on the platform and attracted hundreds of thousands of followers in the process. But recently, her relationship with Instagram started to change.

On Monday, Bruening shared a post on the platform calling to "Make Instagram Instagram again." She told CNN Business that she was scrolling the app and felt frustrated by the lack of content she was seeing from accounts she followed in the wake of recent updates prioritizing recommended posts and videos from its Reels product.

"I was seeing a post from my friend underneath three Reels and a recommended post that was six days old," she said. As she put it in her post: "Stop trying to be TikTok I just want to see cute photos of my friends."

Her post blew up. By Tuesday morning, it had more than 1.7 million likes, thanks in part to shares by two of the most influential figures on the platform: Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. The famous half-sisters are among the most-followed accounts on Instagram, with 360 million and 326 million followers, respectively, and their opinions carry big weight in the world of social media. A February 2018 tweet from Jenner criticizing a Snapchat redesign was credited with wiping out $1.3 billion from the company's value in a week.

The attention to Bruening's post reflects the growing backlash against recent updates to the Instagram platform, which boast more than 1 billion users. To beat back the competitive threat of TikTok — whose discovery algorithm is viewed as its great competitive advantage — Instagram has started showing users a much greater proportion of recommended content from accounts that they don't follow versus posts from their friends. It has also prioritized video content over the photos it is known for. The platform has been testing showing full-screen posts, much like TikTok, as well.

The issue has arguably been brewing for years. Since 2020, the company has been experimenting with showing users more "suggested posts" in their feeds. Recommended content and ads now make up a significant portion of the Instagram feed, which often pigeonholes users into certain content categories (such as recipes or relationship advice) in a way that sometimes seems to disregard whether they actually follow such accounts.

The latest dust-up around Instagram comes at a fragile time for parent company Meta. The company is grappling with an aging and stagnating user base on its flagship Facebook platform, and Instagram is largely seen as the best bet of its family of apps to maintain and grow the crucial younger audience. But Meta, like many older players in the social media world, is facing steep competition from TikTok and is fighting to gain traction in its attempts to copy it.

While Instagram users are somewhat more likely to open the app daily, TikTok users spend an average of about 45 more minutes per day on the app than people do on Instagram, according to a report from research firm Sensor Tower for the second quarter of 2022. In a February call with Wall Street analysts, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Instagram Reels "face a competitor in TikTok that is a lot bigger, so it will take a while to ... catch up there."

At the same time, Meta is relying on profits from Instagram and its other apps to help fund its investment in building a future version of the internet it calls the "metaverse." And the company, which is set to report second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, may see a slowdown in spending on ads, its core business, amid rising inflation and recession fears.

Meta's stock fell nearly 3% Tuesday after the growing backlash from the Kardashians and others.

"The problem for Meta is that nothing is good right now," said D.A. Davidson analyst Tom Forte. "Instagram is meant to be the Meta asset to exploit, to address the younger market, so it's natural to me that they're using Instagram as the way to respond to the competitive threat of TikTok."

Meta has run this playbook before. In 2016, months before Snapchat's parent company made its Wall Street debut, Instagram copied one of the messaging app's signature features, Stories. Instagram, soon reached more users with its version of the feature than Snapchat did. But its efforts to copy TikTok with Reels have arguably proven to be more difficult.

Many have pointed out that videos on Reels are often just old TikTok videos — sometimes shared weeks after they first went viral on TikTok, and occasionally with the TikTok logo still attached. In some cases, users will share a still photo set to music as a Reel in an effort to rank higher on the platform. Instagram, for its part, has been trying to incentivize users to make original Reels, with creator fund programs and by featuring them prominently in-feed. The company is now also testing sharing all videos shorter than 15 minutes as Reels.

To be sure, Instagram is not the only platform prioritizing video and recommended content as it seeks to keep up with TikTok, which last year surpassed 1 billion monthly active users. Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms have all also taken steps in that direction.

"The viewpoint is that this is like mobile, meaning it's an evolutionary change in consumption on the internet," Forte said. "What choice does Facebook have? It would be nearly impossible to buy TikTok, which was the old playbook, so now they have to try to innovate."

For creators like Breuning who built their livelihoods on Instagram, the changes feel especially painful, given its origin as a photo app that catered to artists and photographers.

"It feels wrong to switch the algorithm on creators that have made a living and contributed to the community, forcing them to change their entire content direction and lifestyle to serve a new algorithm," Bruening wrote in a change.org petition calling on Instagram to "Stop trying to be TikTok!" It has garnered more than 150,000 signatures in four days.

Instagram did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. However, Instagram head Adam Mosseri addressed the criticism in a video post on the platform Tuesday.

"We're experimenting with a number of different changes to the app and so we're hearing a lot of concerns from all of you," he said, acknowledging complaints about the shift to video and the increase in recommended content. "We're going to continue to support photos, they're part of our heritage. ... That said, I need to be honest: I do believe that more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time."

Mosseri continued: "If you look at what people share on Instagram, that's shifting more and more to videos over time. If you look at what people like and consume and view on Instagram, that's also shifting more and more to video over time, even if we're not changing anything. So we're going to have to lean into that shift while continuing to support photos."

Mosseri also warned that the full-screen video feature test is "not yet good" and has only rolled out to a small percentage of users. And he pointed to the option Instagram launched earlier this year for users to toggle the platform to a chronological feed of posts from only accounts they follow.

But that explanation wasn't enough to silence the criticisms. Some users sounded off in the comments about feeling like they had no choice but to start making more videos if they wanted the platform's algorithm to surface their content. Others suggested that if the platform became too much like TikTok, they'd be inclined to simply pick one of the apps to use rather than both.

"People do VIDEOS because we have no reach on our photos!!" fashion creator Alina Tanasa (@fabmusealina) said in a comment on Mosseri's video. "As a content creator I need and want each and with photos you cut all the reach and you promote only videos. So it's not us, it's you that are changing everything and are afraid of TikTok."

Makeup influencer James Charles, who has nearly 23 million Instagram followers, added in a comment: "I understand that every business has to evolve, compete, and please investors, but Instagram is losing the competition and has lost its identity along the way. ... We're upset because we CARE about this app and the communities we've been able to create/join on here, but I'm genuinely worried that if something doesn't change, there will be no community left."

If there's a silver lining for Instagram, however, it's that there are few other photo-first apps out there, making it easier to criticize Instagram than leave it, especially for those who have built a life and a livelihood on it.

"Me personally," Breuning said, "I love Instagram and I don't plan on leaving Instagram anytime soon."

Related video above: Oscars slap, ban likely to be Will Smith's most enduring legacies, analyst says

Will Smith said he is"deeply remorseful" about slapping Chris Rock on stage during this year's Oscar's ceremony in a new video posted on social media on Friday.

The video, which was to his verified Instagram account, begins with the words, "It's been a minute."

"Over the last few months, I've been doing a lot of thinking and personal work...," the statement reads. "You asked a lot of fair questions that I wanted to take some time to answer."

Smith can be heard sighing, then enters the screen and addresses the camera about why he didn't apologize to Rock during his Oscars acceptance speech following his win for best actor for his role in "King Richard."

"I was fogged out by that point," Smith said. "It's all fuzzy. I've reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he's not ready to talk and when he is, he will reach out. So I will say to you Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable and I'm here whenever you are ready to talk."

Watch Smith's video below. Warning: Video includes graphic language. Discretion is advised.

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CNN has reached out to representatives for Rock for comment.

Smith also apologized to Rock's mother, family and his brother, Tony Rock, who had starred in the 2007 sitcom "All of Us," which was created by Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

"We had a great relationship," Smith said. "Tony Rock was my man and this is probably irreparable."

Smith walked onstage at the awards show and slapped Chris Rock, who was presenting at the time, after he made a joke about Smith's wife's shaved head.

Jada Pinkett Smith suffers hair loss due to alopecia, an autoimmune condition that can lead to hair loss.

Smith answered the question as to whether or not his wife, after rolling her eyes at Rock's joke, had asked him to do something by saying she had not.

He also apologized to her, their children, and his fellow Academy Award nominees.

Smith said he "spent the last three months replaying an understanding the nuance and complexity of what happened in that moment."

"I'm not going to try to unpack all of that right now, but I can say to all of you, there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment," he said. "No part of me that thinks that is the optimal way to handle a feeling of disrespect or insult."

Kanye West's Instagram account restricted, returns to Twitter

Updated: 11:25 PM EDT Oct 8, 2022

After being suspended by Meta on Friday, Kanye West posted on Twitter for the first time in nearly two years — a move celebrated by Elon Musk, who is in the process of buying the social media network.West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, tweeted a photograph of a hat that said 2024. Musk responded with his own tweet, reading "Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!"West last posted on Twitter in November 2020, just after the last U.S. presidential election. Following his first tweet on Friday, West posted another one which included a picture of himself with Meta Platforms Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, accusing him of kicking him off Instagram.In a statement to CNN Business on Saturday, a Meta spokesperson said content from West's account was deleted for violating the company's policies and a restriction was placed on his account. It did not specify what was objectionable about the content or what kind of restriction was imposed.The move comes after West shared a since-deleted post that included a screenshot of a text conversation with Sean "Diddy" Combs that was criticized by the American Jewish Committee as "anti-Jewish."West was previously suspended by Instagram for 24 hours in March for directing a racial slur at "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah.Earlier this week, West stirred controversy for wearing a "White Lives Matter" shirt and dressing several Black models in shirts with the same phrase, deemed a "hate slogan" by the Anti-Defamation League, at his fashion show in Paris.

Tourist hot spot erects fence to deter selfie-takers, control over-tourism

Hallstatt, Austria, is a UNESCO-protected spot and is rumored to have been an inspiration for "Frozen"

Updated: 4:47 AM EDT May 26, 2023

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The small village behind me is home to only 800 people yet every year, more than one million tourists visited. It's one of the most popular attractions in Austria. This is Hal Harstad is nestled in the upper Austrian Alps in the idyllic Zazu region. This tiny village is considered one of the top most instagrammable places since 1997. It's also been listed as *** Unesco World Heritage site as part of the Hat Ducks ST landscape. Austria has an excellent railroad network with high speed trains and scenic views. So if you want to travel to halt by train, you can do so from any other Austrian city pretty effortlessly. You'll arrive at Hals where *** ferry is already waiting to pick you up and take you across the lake. The ferry ride is barely 10 minutes but it's like an attraction in itself as it offers unique perspectives to take postcard worthy pictures. Of course, Halstead is also accessible by car. If you're coming by car here, do remember that there are no regular cars allowed inside the Halsted area. You should park your car right outside the village, but don't worry, it's not *** problem because the whole area here is quite small. It will take you only 20 minutes to walk from one end to the other end of because Halstead is so small, you don't have to worry about getting lost. Part of the village's charm are the beautiful traditional wooden houses and narrow alleys with hidden stairways. So you should definitely take the time to explore and discover all the different corners and unique viewpoints. It's *** narrow, but keep in mind that the beautiful town is not just *** tourist attraction but *** place where people live as you enjoy strolling through the narrow streets and along the lakeside, you'll eventually reach the heart of the village, which is almost impossible to miss the Market Square. The historic times, this used to be the main trading center today. You will find many cafes, restaurants, bars, and hotels right here. But Harshad is known for more than just the stunning natural landscape and pretty views. It's also famous for something completely different, something that's sometimes called white gold Salt. The weather can change here very quickly. One day, it's sunny and the other day it's like this raining the whole day. But today would be *** good day to go inside the salt mine. Actually, the Selten Salt Mine is one of the most important attractions. The miners used to take slides like this to get into the mine very fast. The history of 7000 years. It's the oldest salt mine in the world. *** guided tour tells us how salt deposits formed, how people first started mining them and how salt is being extracted. Today, we learned *** lot about salt back there. But there's also an interesting viewpoint here called the World Heritage Skywalk. Behind me, it's 360 m above the rooftops of halt. Wow, what an amazing view. The skywalk gets its name from the 12 m platform that extends from the mountains and appears to be floating in the sky. It provides an amazing bird's eye view of the world heritage site. No wonder the idyllic village of Harshad draws enthusiastic visitors from across the globe.

Tourist hot spot erects fence to deter selfie-takers, control over-tourism

Hallstatt, Austria, is a UNESCO-protected spot and is rumored to have been an inspiration for "Frozen"

Updated: 4:47 AM EDT May 26, 2023

An Austrian village has taken an unusual approach to combating unwelcome tourist behavior. Video above: More about Hallstatt, Austria, and why tourists and social media influencers are drawn to the village. Some people just won't "Let It Go." An Austrian village rumored to have inspired the Disney movie "Frozen" put up a temporary wooden fence this week to deter selfie-takers. Hallstatt's snow-capped mountains, chocolate-box architecture and crystalline waters are catnip to tourists. While the population of this UNESCO-protected spot is fewer than 800 people, it can reportedly attract up to 10,000 visitors a day. Back in 2020, a representative for Hallstatt's tourism board told CNN that they were planning a "focus on quality tourism in the future," and it seems this is just one of many measures they're trying out. The fence was a pilot project and only up for a short time, but as with everything about this much-buzzed-about village, it's attracted plenty of global attention. Video below: In 2020, it was reported that the Austrian village of Hallstatt was overwhelmed with an influx of tourists seeking to snap photos for social media

An Austrian village has taken an unusual approach to combating unwelcome tourist behavior.

Video above: More about Hallstatt, Austria, and why tourists and social media influencers are drawn to the village.

Some people just won't "Let It Go."

An Austrian village rumored to have inspired the Disney movie "Frozen" put up a temporary wooden fence this week to deter selfie-takers.

Hallstatt's snow-capped mountains, chocolate-box architecture and crystalline waters are catnip to tourists. While the population of this UNESCO-protected spot is fewer than 800 people, it can reportedly attract up to 10,000 visitors a day.

Back in 2020, a representative for Hallstatt's tourism board told CNN that they were planning a "focus on quality tourism in the future," and it seems this is just one of many measures they're trying out.

Reinhard Hörmandinger/AFP/Getty Images via CNN

The fence was a pilot project and only up for a short time, but as with everything about this much-buzzed-about village, it's attracted plenty of global attention.

Video below: In 2020, it was reported that the Austrian village of Hallstatt was overwhelmed with an influx of tourists seeking to snap photos for social media