Instagram has hit a new milestone today with the company announcing that it has hit 300 million users, passing Twitter’s user count of 284 million.

The company, acquired by Facebook Inc. for $1 billion in April 2012, noted in a celebratory post that the site sees 70 million photos and videos uploaded each day.

The new figure is up from the 200 million accounts the service had only nine months ago.

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom explained to CNBC where a lot of the growth is coming from, saying that “We’re seeing a lot of people coming in the fashion world, a lot of people coming in, in the youthful teens world, and a lot of people internationally as well.”

Along with the strong growth figures, Instagram has followed in the footsteps of Twitter Inc. by introducing verified accounts.

The “verified badges” aren’t for everyone though and are only available to celebrities, athletes and brands, in a move Instagram says will make “it easier for you to connect with the authentic accounts you’re looking for.”

The company also addressed the increasing level of spam in the app, noting that they will now permanently ban spam accounts versus their current practice of deactivating them. The move will only be noticed by legitimate users in reduced follower accounts.

It’s good news from Instagram; many thought that Facebook would strangle the company when it acquired the photo-sharing app. That said, critics shouldn’t immediately presume all large companies acquiring startups will be as shockingly bad as Yahoo, after all Yahoo kills everything it touches.