Instagram boss Adam Mosseri is relocating to London to grow its presence in the UK – where engineers are THREE TIMES cheaper than San Francisco – as it battles TikTok and faces backlash from the Kardashians over changes
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri is relocating to London – as the company deals with backlash from over algorithm changes in its battle with TikTok for younger users – a place where average engineering salaries are up to three times lower than those in San Francisco.
Mosseri’s move is part of the Meta-owned social platform’s effort to grow its presence in the UK and will effectively make London the company’s biggest engineering base since it already has more than 4,000 employees.
One source familiar with the move suggested to the Financial Times that the plans were a ‘cost saving measure’ since engineers in the UK are paid up to three times less than in San Francisco.
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Mosseri’s move is part of the Meta-owned social platform’s effort to grow its presence in the UK. Pictured above is the company’s King’s Cross office
According to Glassdoor, the average software engineer at Meta in San Francisco is paid $169,000 and the salaries range up to $545,000. The average software engineer at Meta in London is paid about $69,000 and the salaries range up to $74,000.
His temporary relocation comes at a very challenging time for Instagram and its parent company, Meta, which recently posted its first-ever quarterly revenue decline – prompting CEO Mark Zuckerberg to say that ‘many teams are going to shrink.’
The company could also take advantage of the UK government’s research and development tax credits, which were recently overhauled. However, Mosseri has not met with any UK officials in the last year.
A spokesperson for Meta told DailyMail.com: ‘Given the global nature of his role, Adam will be temporarily based out of London later this year. London is already Meta’s largest engineering hub outside of the US, with over 4,000 employees across our offices, including a dedicated Instagram product team with people focused on building long term solutions for creators.’
A wide range of users, including the Kylie Jenner (above), were not happy with changes announced by Instagram that put more emphasis on videos, sponsored posts and posts or videos from people you don’t follow
Last week, Instagram reversed itself and admitted that recent changes to the app were ‘not good’ after Kim Kardashian joined a chorus of criticism from celebrity influencers and regular users who said Instagram needs to just be Instagram and stop mimicking its rival, the video-sharing platform TikTok.
Mosseri, seen above, joined the tech firm in 2008 and led the team that developed Facebook’s News Feed. He became Instagram’s boss in 2018
Musician and actor Simon Curtis said: ‘It now feels like Facebook- an ugly, Frankenstein’s monster of an app, where old people go to get fed ads, be scammed, and get confused.’
Chrissy Teigen said: ‘we don’t wanna make videos Adam lol’
Author Roxane Gay tweeted: ‘It sucks right now. Stop trying to be TikTok. I don’t want to make videos.’
In addition, users were not happy with the higher number of sponsored posts and posts from people they do not follow in their feeds.
‘Right now, about 15 per cent of content in a person’s Facebook feed and a little more than that of their Instagram feed is recommended by our AI from people, groups, or accounts that you don’t follow,’ Zuckerberg recently said.
However, a recent test conducted by six reporters at DailyMail.com revealed that the numbers are notably higher.
On average, 31.6 percent of the Instagram feed was filled with photos from someone you follow, while 16 percent was filled with videos from someone you follow. Meanwhile, 25.3 percent of posts were sponsored, and 27 percent were suggested.
Mosseri joined the tech firm in 2008 and led the team that developed Facebook’s News Feed. He became Instagram’s boss in 2018 after the app’s co-founders left the company.
In its results last week, Meta’s total costs and expenses increased 22 per cent year on year in the first quarter, while headcount was up 32 per cent. Net income plunged by 36 percent compared to the previous quarter, to $6.7 billion.
Mosseri is known for his close relationship with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, pictured above
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