Rockville, MD (Reuters) – Instagram on Monday said co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have resigned as chief executive officer and chief technical officer of the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook Inc, giving scant explanation for the move.

The departures at Facebook’s fastest-growing revenue generator come just months after the exit of Jan Koum, co-founder of Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp, leaving the social network without the developers behind two of its biggest services.

They also come at a time when Facebook’s core platform is under fire for how it safeguards customer data, as it defends against political efforts to spread false information, and as younger users increasingly prefer alternative ways to stay in touch with family and friends. Concerns over Facebook’s business sparked the biggest one-day wipeout in U.S. stock market history in July.

Systrom wrote in a blog post on Monday that he and Krieger planned to take time off and explore “our curiosity and creativity again”.

Their announcement came after increasingly frequent clashes with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg over the direction of Instagram, Bloomberg reported.

In a statement, Zuckerberg described the two as “extraordinary product leaders”.

“I’ve learned a lot working with them for the past six years and have really enjoyed it. I wish them all the best and I’m looking forward to seeing what they build next,” Zuckerberg said.

WhatsApp co-founders split

Koum’s departure in May followed the exit of his WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton.

That led to a reshuffling of Facebook’s executive ranks, increasing Zuckerberg’s ability to influence day-to-day operations. Zuckerberg ally Chris Cox, who leads product development for Facebook’s main app, gained oversight of WhatsApp and Instagram, which had been given independence when Facebook bought them.

Adam Mosseri, who had overseen Facebook’s news feed and spent a decade working closely with Zuckerberg, became Instagram’s head of product.

Instagram and Facebook have operated independently and the two services barely mention each other. But as regulators have pushed Facebook to improve information safeguards for individual privacy, to combat addiction to social media, and to stop misinformation or fake news, Zuckerberg and other leaders have been under more pressure to monitor units beyond the core social network.

Earlier:

Systrom and Krieger notified the photo-sharing app’s leadership team and Facebook on Monday about their decision to leave, Instagram said. Their departure would be soon, it said. The New York Times first reported the move.

Systrom and Krieger met through Stanford University and worked separately in Silicon Valley before forming Instagram in 2010.

Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. The photo-sharing app has over 1 billion active monthly users and has grown by adding features such as messaging and short videos. In 2016, it added the ability to post slideshows that disappear in 24 hours, mimicking the “stories” feature of Snap Inc’s Snapchat.

The photo app’s global revenue this year is likely to exceed $8 billion, showed data from advertising consultancy EMarketer.

Increased advertising on Instagram has seen the average price-per-ad across Facebook’s apps decline this year after a year of upswing. A new privacy law in Europe also has affected prices.

Instagram had been hailed in Silicon Valley as a flashy acquisition done right, with the team kept relatively small and Systrom having the freedom to add features such as peer-to-peer messaging, video uploads and advertising.

“I see Mark [Zuckerberg] practice a tremendous amount of restraint in giving us the freedom to run, but the reason why I think he gives us the freedom to run is because when we run, it typically works,” Systrom told Recode last June.

The app’s latest product, IGTV, has been slow to gain traction. Offered through Instagram and as a standalone app, IGTV serves up longer-length video content, mostly from popular Instagram users.

Video content has been a major emphasis for Facebook as it seeks to satisfy advertisers’ desire to stream more commercials online.

Newlyweds Prince Harry and Meghan thanked everyone who took part in the celebrations of their wedding on Saturday, as their Kensington Palace residence published three official wedding photographs.

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex would like to thank everyone who took part in the celebrations of their wedding on Saturday,” the palace said in a statement.

“They feel so lucky to have been able to share their day with all those gathered in Windsor and also all those who watched the wedding on television across the U.K., Commonwealth, and around the world,” it said.

Some 100,000 people came for the ceremony in Windsor, west of London and it was watched live globally, including by 29 million people in the U.S. alone.

The two said they were “delighted” with the official portraits taken by Alexi Lubomirski and thanked the public for their “generous members of support.”

One photo shows the couple with Harry’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Philip, and their son Prince Charles, the heir to the throne.

In another, the newlyweds pose with all the page boys and bridesmaids who took part in the wedding, including Prince George, who is third in line to the throne.

The third shows the couple alone in black and white.

As a member of the Royal Family, Meghan now has her own page on the official royal.uk website which carries a short biography focusing on her support for social justice and women’s empowerment causes.

“I am proud to be a woman and a feminist,” Meghan, now the Duchess of Sussex, said on the site.

The description prompted press speculation that Meghan may challenge the Royal Family’s tradition of not getting involved in politically sensitive subjects.

The Daily Mail said Meghan would “take the royals in a striking new direction” but also voiced caution.

“She must be careful that her enthusiasm for these causes doesn’t allow her to be pulled into the political fray. To survive, the monarchy must remain scrupulously neutral,” it said in an editorial.

LONDON (Reuters) — Silicon Valley technology giants such as Facebook and Google have grown so dominant they may need to be broken up, unless challengers or changes in taste reduce their clout, the inventor of the World Wide Web told Reuters.

The digital revolution has spawned a handful of U.S.-based technology companies since the 1990s that now have a combined financial and cultural power greater than most sovereign states.

Tim Berners-Lee, a London-born computer scientist who invented the Web in 1989, said he was disappointed with the current state of the internet, following scandals over the abuse of personal data and the use of social media to spread hate.

“What naturally happens is you end up with one company dominating the field so through history there is no alternative to really coming in and breaking things up,” Berners-Lee, 63, said in an interview. “There is a danger of concentration.”

But he urged caution too, saying the speed of innovation in both technology and tastes could ultimately cut some of the biggest technology companies down to size.

“Before breaking them up, we should see whether they are not just disrupted by a small player beating them out of the market, but by the market shifting, by the interest going somewhere else,” Berners-Lee said.

Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Facebook have a combined market capitalization of US$3.7 trillion, equal to Germany’s gross domestic product last year.

Berners-Lee came up with the idea for what he initially called “Mesh” while working at Europe’s physics research centre CERN, calling it the World Wide Web in 1990.

When asked who had the biggest intellectual influence on him, he said: “Mum and Dad.”

“They were building computers, so I grew up living in a world where everything was mathematics and the excitement of being able to program something was very fresh,” he said.

There was, he said, no “Eureka” moment.

Instead, it was hard work, the experience of working in computer science and an attempt to overcome the frustrations of trying to share information with colleagues and students.

“Eureka moments are complete nonsense. I don’t even believe the one about Archimedes. He had been thinking about it for a long time,” he said.

Now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford, Berners-Lee expressed dismay at the way consultancy Cambridge Analytica obtained the personal data of 87 million Facebook users from a researcher.

That scandal, he said, was a tipping point for many.

“I am disappointed with the current state of the Web,” he said. “We have lost the feeling of individual empowerment and to a certain extent also I think the optimism has cracked.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized after the Cambridge Analytica scandal and pledged to do more to protect users’ data.

But social media, Berners-Lee said, was still being used to propagate hate.

“If you put a drop of love into Twitter it seems to decay but if you put in a drop of hatred you feel it actually propagates much more strongly. And you wonder: ‘Well is that because of the way that Twitter as a medium has been built?'”

(Editing by Mark Potter)

In what can only be described as a horrifying day for Toronto, after a van hit and killed 10 people and injured 16 others in one of the city’s busiest areas, residents and fans of the city looked to each other for support.

Canadian celebrities, sports teams, and politicians across the country have been sending messages of strength via social media in the wake of today’s tragedy, and an outpouring of solidarity under the hashtag #TorontoStrong quickly took over.

Australian actor Nicholas Hamilton, best known for his role in “It” last year, tweeted: “Feeling for all the victims and their families after the attack in Toronto. My family and I used to ride our bikes up Yonge St during the filming of IT, two summers ago. Terrifying that such a beautiful place could be the scene of such a disgusting crime. #PrayForToronto“

Other celebs who felt a connection to the city, like Sarah Rafferty and Patrick J. Adams from “Suits,” homegrown star Shawn Mendes and skater Scott Moir also expressed their sadness online.

Politicians and Canadian icons from near and far chimed in to express solidarity.

And those from the sports world, many currently in the midst of playoff games against Toronto, took time to remind people what’s really important.

But most of all, in the midst of tragedy, Torontonians showed immense amounts of kindness to each other.

CLARIFICATION – April 27, 2018: Previous reports from Toronto police stated that 14 people were injured in the Toronto van rampage. Officials have since updated that number to 16.

More from HuffPost:

OTTAWA — The annual pace of inflation slowed more than expected in September as increases in the price of gasoline continued to ease.

Statistics Canada said Friday the consumer price index in September was up 2.2 per cent from a year ago compared with a year-over-year increase of 2.8 per cent in August.

Economists had expected the September figure to come in at 2.7 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

The inflation report comes ahead of the Bank of Canada’s rate decision next week when it will also update its forecast for the economy in its monetary policy report.

The central bank, which aims to keep inflation within a target range of one to three per cent and adjusts its interest rate target to help achieve that goal, is expected to raise its key interest rate target, which sits at 1.5 per cent, by a quarter of a percentage point.

Earlier on HuffPost: Poloz says slow first-quarter growth behind holding interest rate. Story continues below.

TD Bank senior economist James Marple said the softer-than-expected inflation report did little to alter TD’s expectation that the Bank of Canada will raise rates next week.

“I don’t think one month of soft price growth is going to change the Bank of Canada’s mind on a rate hike,” he said.

Marple said the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement removed a key risk for the economy, but added challenges such as high household debt remain.

“There’s still are some underlying risks that have always been there and maybe weren’t in the spotlight because we were all focused on trade,” he said.

“We have very high household debt levels. We have mortgage rates that have been increasing and will continue to increase even with very little action from the Bank of Canada.”

Prices up in all eight major components

Statistics Canada said prices were up in all eight major components for the 12 months to September.

The transportation index, which includes gasoline, was up 3.9 per cent in September compared with a 7.2 per cent move in August as gasoline prices last month were up 12 per cent compared with a 19.9 per cent increase in August.

However, the transportation group remained the largest contributor to the overall year-over-year increase in the index.

Food prices were up 1.8 per cent, while shelter costs rose 2.5 per cent. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products were up 4.4 per cent.

WATCH: What happens when there’s an interest rate hike? Story continues below.

Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter noted the price of air fares, while up 7.4 per cent from a year ago, fell 16.6 per cent compared with the previous month. Hotel rates were also down 5.2 per cent compared with a year ago.

“With travel tours also down 3.2 per cent, that meant that tourism overall got a lot cheaper in Canada last month,” Porter wrote in a brief report, adding that vehicle prices were up just 0.7 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

“All of these soft sectors combined to clip core inflation as well, although the easing there was much less dramatic than in the headline tally,” Porter said.

The average of the three measures of core inflation, which look to strip out more-volatile items like gas prices and are closely scrutinized by the Bank of Canada, was 2.0 per cent in September compared with 2.1 per cent in August.

Retail sales down

In a separate report, Statistics Canada said retail sales fell 0.1 per cent in August to $50.8 billion as sales moved lower in seven of 11 of the subsectors tracked by the agency.

Sales at gasoline stations were down 2.0 per cent, while clothing and clothing accessories stores fell 1.2 per cent. Motor vehicle and parts dealers saw sales increase 0.8 per cent.

Retail sales in volume terms were down 0.3 per cent.

UPDATE – April 11, 2018: Humboldt Broncos athletic therapist Dayna Brons died of her injuries in hospital, 5 days after the bus crash. She is the 16th fatality in the accident.

Canadians are at a loss for words after hearing the news of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan that has left 15 dead and 14 injured. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t found touching ways to honour the people who died.

On social media, some people are sharing artwork inspired by the junior hockey team to show their support and condolences to those affected. The images, which are being shared using the hashtag #humboldtstrong, capture the pain and heartbreak felt across the country.

One mom shared a drawing by her daughter, which reveals that even the youngest Canadians understand the loss in some capacity.

“To translate a kindergartener’s spelling: ‘Jesus with hockey players and coaches,'” she captioned the photo.

The accident occurred on Friday evening when a tractor-trailer collided with the hockey team’s bus. The exact cause of the crash is still unknown.

The team’s head coach, 41-year-old Darcy Haugan, was among the 15 people who died. His niece, Sarah Hope, shared a painting she made in his memory.

“I don’t know how to deal with this,” she wrote on Instagram. “Please Pray for my auntie, my cousins, my grandparents, my mom, and for all he families of those lost and healing. We grieve together.”

“This painting is unfinished, because it still just isn’t doing him justice,” she added.

Canadians have also started leaving hockey sticks on their porches to honour the victims.

Many have also donated to Canadian Blood Services and are planning to wear hockey jerseys on April 12 to support the victims and their families.

Would a quarter of $1 million a year solve all of your financial woes?

Almost 1,500 Canadians were asked how much individual pre-tax income would make them feel “financially comfortable” in a survey by financial services firm Edward Jones. The verdict came in at cool $250,000.

But why stop there? Being comfortable is great, but it’s certainly not going to buy you that fancy watch you’ve been eyeing or get you to Rome anytime soon. When asked how much they’d need to achieve the lifestyle they “truly desire,” most participants added another $50,000 to that total.

The net worth of Canada’s 1 per cent club differs by province.

While both figures are certainly a far cry from Canada’s median after-tax income of $56,000, the survey found that people always felt they earned less than they desired, regardless of which end of the earning scale they were on.

“The more people earn, the more they believe they need,” Patrick French, principal of solutions tools and consulting with Edward Jones, told HuffPost Canada on Wednesday. “That’s because as salary increases, so does expenditure.”

The data was broken down by region: Albertans had the grandest financial aspirations, requiring almost $350,000 to feel comfortable. The phenomenon could be attributed to prolonged economic hardship and mounting debt in the province, French surmised. Manitoba and Saskatchewan needed the least, at about $157,000.

Older Canadians require the most

Figures also differed across generations: Canadians aged 55 to 64 had the most extravagant desired salary at a whopping $398,347. The report said that “this age group may be saddled with unwanted financial responsibilities.”

French said those lofty ambitions can be partially attributed to failing to properly plan for retirement. Another financial burden could include helping children and grandchildren pay for homes in expensive real estate markets across the country.

Millennials turned out to have the most modest outlooks: people aged 18 to 34 said they’d feel comfortable with about $166,000 a year.

“One reason could be that millennials are at a stage in their lives where they are more focused on consumption,” French said. “They aren’t thinking so much about retirement, running out of time to pay off debts or how to leave something to their kids.”

Looking to boost your paycheque? You might want to look into machine learning.

Millennials are underestimating their future needs: French

While millennials lack in imaginary money, they’re totally flush in another, equally intangible way.

“Young people have the one resource no one can make more of — time,” French said. “Their figure might be lower because they feel they have time to earn money and save, which is true. If they act on that idea, of course.”

But the lower figure could also be the result of a lack of financial literacy and awareness of just how much money they’ll need as the decades roll on, French said.

“It’s also possible that younger people are vastly underestimating how much they will need to live the kind of lifestyle they want, which could be a major problem as they get older.”

The survey polled 1565 Canadians between May 23 to 26, 2017. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of +/-2.5%, 19 times out of 20.