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Facebook's photo-sharing service, Instagram, said Wednesday it has more than 300 million users, sharing tens of millions of photos and videos each day. That means Instagram, launched by Stanford graduates Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in 2010, is now bigger than Twitter, which claims 284 million monthly active users. Instagram crossed 200 million users in March. "Over the past four years, what began as two friends with a dream has grown into a global community that shares more than 70 million photos and videos each day," Systrom, Instagram's CEO, said in a blog post. Facebook is the world's largest social-media service, with 1.35 billion monthly active users.

Instagram, bought by Facebook in April 2012, also said that users would now see a "verified" badge for celebrities, athletes and brands as the service pushes to deactivate spam accounts. Instagram also said it will permanently delete spam accounts, which may cause a drop in some users' follower counts.

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SOCIAL

Announcing 300 million - our community is bigger and better than ever http://t.co/do6Wc20xWj — Instagram (@instagram) December 10, 2014

Regardless of Twitter's Dec. user count, it's really impressive how fast Instagram has grown. http://t.co/rkiRoMf4GY pic.twitter.com/nAdV6iW8Ip — Dan Frommer (@fromedome) December 10, 2014

— Reuters and NBC news staff