Employees exposed 2 billion active users of Instagram

Instagram's monthly active users have reportedly climbed to 2 billion, a message that anonymous employees revealed to CNBC. The veteran company has yet — and probably won't — officially disclose the numbers, as it has come under scrutiny over the past few months for potential harm to children and teens.

The last time Instagram publicly announced the size of its user base was back in 2018, when the platform revealed it had 1 billion users. That means it took the company three years to reach the 2 billion mark. Employees who revealed the news to CNBC said they found the number in internal conversations — an employee reportedly told CNBC that Instagram had crossed the threshold about a week before Facebook decided to change its name to Meta.

Instagram has been desperately trying to get ahead of TikTok, a fast-growing short-form video app that just topped 1 billion users in September — just three years after the app merged with Musical.ly and became widely used. While Instagram surpassed the platform, it's unclear how long this will last. Instagram has been rolling out one feature after another that looks like a copycat version of TikTok, and its newly released Reels Visual Reply is the latest example.

Still, Instagram isn't really in a position to be able to brag about its user base right now, as its own internal research has found that the platform can exacerbate body image problems for young girls and has also been accused of making it easier for teens to find drugs. In response to these issues, the platform launched a "take a break" feature that prompts users to close the app after a period of use and announces the introduction of new parental controls.