Last month, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and other influencers stirred up a public relations firestorm for Instagram, complaining to their hundreds of millions of followers about the app’s recent attempts to mimic TikTok. Those efforts were just part of a broader internal effort to take on the Chinese short-form video app, though.

The Information has learned that recent tests of changes to Instagram were part of an initiative that began last year to simplify the app, codenamed Panavision. This less cluttered vision of the app, plus the introduction of recommended content and immersive full-screen videos in its home screen—all features that are mainstays of TikTok—show just how significantly Instagram’s leadership were willing to overhaul the app to counter TikTok, which has captured the cultural zeitgeist and eyeballs of young people globally.