Instagram co-founders’ news app Artifact bids farewell to users

In the fast-moving tech scene, meeting users’ demands is no walk in the park, as many startups can attest. Now, a once-promising app that kicked off nearly a year ago is saying its farewells to users.

Engadget shares that Artifact, the news app from Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, is calling it quits, not even a year after its debut. According to a note on Medium from Systrom, the app’s essential news reading features will stick around until the end of February, but commenting and posting will be taken offline immediately.

Artifact is a news aggregator app that was launched in 2023. The app’s goal is to provide users with a personalized and engaging news experience. Artifact uses artificial intelligence to analyze user behavior and interests and then recommends articles that are tailored to each individual’s preferences.

The app also features social discussion forums, where users can share their thoughts on the news and connect with other people who share their interests. Artifact has been praised for its innovative approach to news consumption. However, the app has also faced criticism for its lack of transparency about its algorithms and its reliance on user data.

Despite a year of dedicated effort, Systrom and Krieger ran into familiar challenges faced by founders of other noteworthy news apps. Systrom acknowledged, “We have built something that a core group of users love, but we have concluded that the market opportunity isn’t big enough to warrant continued investment in this way.”

On a different note, video-sharing apps like TikTok and YouTube are flourishing, reaching unprecedented levels of user engagement and revenue. For a detailed overview of the apps that dominated the time and spending habits of US residents in 2023, feel free to explore our dedicated article.