Instagram adds Snapchat-style face filters, an eraser tool for drawings, and hashtags for Stories
Today Instagram Stories adds a more subtle and mature but error-prone copycat of Snapchat's beloved augmented reality selfie filters. The eight initial “face filters” …
Context & Ripple Effects
Face filters are the latest move in a cloning campaign that started when Instagram launched Stories as a direct copy of Snapchat's ephemeral slideshows in August 2016. Since then the cadence has been steady — stickers for Stories in December, then Geostickers in March — each release stripping away a reason to open Snapchat.
The difference this time is Facebook's multi-front approach: Instagram gets AR selfie filters while Facebook Messenger already shipped its own 3D-mask photo filters, meaning Snapchat's signature format is being replicated across two of the largest apps at once. The eraser tool and hashtags are the only parts of today's update that aren't lifted from Snapchat.
First-order effects
- Snapchat loses its clearest remaining differentiator — its beloved face lenses — to an app with a far larger user base, and Instagram's version ships with eight filters on day one despite TechCrunch calling it more subtle and error-prone than the original.
- Instagram users gain three new creation tools at once (filters, eraser, hashtags), making Stories a more complete canvas without ever leaving the app.
Second-order effects
- Snapchat is pushed further up the innovation treadmill: it had just answered Instagram's rewind feature by launching World Lenses that animate your environment, and now must differentiate on camera creativity rather than ownership of any single format.
- Hashtags inside Stories pull discovery behavior from the main feed into ephemeral content, giving brands and influencers a new surface and pressuring Snapchat to build equivalent search and discovery mechanics.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, feature parity between Instagram Stories and Snapchat becomes the baseline expectation, and competition shifts to whatever Snapchat invents next — the copy cycle effectively converts Snap Inc.'s R&D into free roadmap research for Facebook.
- With Messenger also carrying cloned filters, AR selfie effects stop being a product and become table-stakes infrastructure across social apps, compressing Snapchat's valuation narrative around innovation leadership.
The trend: Facebook is systematically absorbing Snapchat's creative-camera playbook feature by feature across Instagram and Messenger, turning Snap's innovations into commodities within months of launch.