Instagram is paying creators tens of thousands of dollars to bring new users to the platform. The tech giant has been quietly running a program called "Referrals," which compensates U.S.-based creators when new users visit Instagram through links shared by creators, Business Insider confirmed with Meta. Instagram is instructing creators to share links to their Instagram profiles and posts on other platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Discord to drive new users to the site. According to a January report, Meta offered some creators up to $300,000 to exclusively post short-form content to Instagram Reels, Meta's take on TikTok. Instagram has 169 million users in the U.S., per Statista estimates, making it the country with the second-largest Instagram audience after India.