Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian tell Instagram to 'stop trying to be TikTok,' which could spell major trouble for the platform

• Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian called on Instagram to "stop trying to be TikTok" on Monday.
• When Jenner tweeted that she didn't use Snapchat anymore in 2018, its stock tumbled.
• Instagram's parent company Meta recently announced big changes to compete with TikTok.

Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, who have a combined 686 million followers on Instagram, told Instagram to "stop trying to be TikTok" in story updates on Monday.

That could spell trouble for the Meta-owned social platform at a time when the company is going full speed ahead with major changes for Facebook and Instagram in order to compete with TikTok.

The message the two both shared said: "Make Instagram Instagram again (stop trying to be TikTok. I just want to see cute photos of my friends). Sincerely, everyone."

The models and influencer-businesswomen, who are half-sisters, are powerful voices on social media. Jenner has 360 million followers on Instagram, while Kardashian has 326 million.

In 2018, after Jenner tweeted that she didn't use Snapchat anymore after the app's redesign, its stock quickly tumbled more than 8% that day. The estimated loss at the time was over $1 billion in market value.

The timing isn't great for Meta. Last week, the company announced a redesign for the Facebook app that introduces the "Home" tab as the default feed, and it has a lot in common with TikTok.

Namely, it's an algorithm-based endless scroll that prioritizes entertaining content that users want to see, even if it's from strangers, over friends' status updates. Like TikTok, it's designed to keep people on the Facebook as long as possible. Updates from friends will be found in another tab called "Feeds."

As for Instagram, Meta announced that any video that users post that's under 15 minutes will automatically become a reel, and "may be eligible to be recommended and seen by more people."

Instagram had already made changes prior to that announcement. In March, it introduced the "Favorites" and "Following" feeds, the latter being the main feed to see what the people you follow are posting. In its announcement, it said, "Over time, we're going to add more recommendations to your feed based on your interests." 

If that sounds like TikTok, you're not alone: Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian seem to agree.