Drew Angerer/Getty Images; Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for WIRED
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Adam Mosseri.
- Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said Facebook "serves as a s--- umbrella for Instagram."
- Mosseri made the remark during a wide-ranging interview with NBC News' Dylan Byers published Wednesday, during which he discussed Instagram and its relationship to parent company Facebook.
- He said it's "generally the case" that people trust Instagram more than Facebook, while admitting he isn't as big a public figure as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
- The 37-year-old also revealed he's never met Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel, but would be "totally down" to meet him for coffee.
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Instagram chief Adam Mosseri says Facebook "serves as a s--- umbrella for Instagram."
Mosseri made the comment during a wide-ranging interview with NBC News' Dylan Byers published Wednesday, during which he discussed Instagram and its relationship to parent company Facebook.
Asked if Instagram was somehow seen as more trustworthy than Facebook despite the firms' intimate relationship, the 37-year-old said people generally trust Instagram more than Facebook.
He said: "For lack of a more elegant phrase, I think Facebook as a company serves as a s--- umbrella for Instagram a lot of the time, in a way that I personally really appreciate because I've worked on all parts of this company and been on the front lines."
Considering why this might be, he said Instagram has been able to learn from Facebook's mistakes, aided by its close ties to Facebook.
Mosseri, who became head of Instagram in October 2018, has worked at Facebook in a variety of roles since 2008. He said he's happy with his position as a less obviously public figure than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
"I was managing [Facebook's] News Feed during the 2016 US presidential election, and one of my responsibilities in the wake of that election was addressing fake news on Facebook. I've been deep in these areas and on the front lines.
"I've been all over the world; I've been yelled at by CEOs telling me I'm on the wrong side of history; I've been called every name you can think of.
"But it's more in the industry. I'm not nearly as big a public figure as Mark [Zuckerberg] is. And I'm fine with that. I actually kind of like that."
Mosseri also revealed he's never met Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel, but would be "totally down" to meet him for a coffee.
Though Mosseri didn't elaborate on why he'd never met Spiegel, Facebook has long been viewed as a major antagonist of Snap's.
As well as developing a reputation for copying features pioneered by Snapchat, Facebook - and, more specifically, Instagram - has previously been accused of attempting to effectively destroy Snapchat by mimicking its core tools.
In any case, it's possible Spiegel may be a bit distracted for coffee right now: Snap's annual conference was forced to recast itself as an online-only event this week amid ongoing coronavirus fears.
