Facebook Set to Launch TikTok Competitor as The Short Video Recording App Faces Scrutiny

The rise of TikTok is something that a lot of big tech companies have been fairly worried about and a big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that TikTok is a China based company and it has managed to secure markets that western companies have not been able to crack. From markets like South Asia all the way to the South Pacific, these are markets that are very valuable indeed and TikTok has managed to become quite prevalent in them in spite of the fact that American social media platforms have seen a slow adoption rate there.

Facebook has been particularly proactive in dealing with this situation by working on an answer to TikTok in the form of Instagram Reels. This is a feature that would similarly allow you to create up to fifteen second videos and draw from a catalogue of music that you can then end up lip syncing to. Part of TikTok’s appeal is how easy it is for users to end up going viral, and Instagram Reels is going to have a similarly structured “Featured Videos” section that would make it easier for the average user to end up getting some kind of a viral video.

After a year of working on this platform, it seems that Facebook is set to launch it globally quite soon. This comes as TikTok is facing scrutiny in Washington, and as a trade war between the US and China is starting to become ever more heated. Some are criticizing the US for trying to stifle capitalism by refusing to allow a Chinese social media platform to succeed on their soil thereby creating artificial conditions in which their own companies can succeed. Regardless, Instagram Reels is going to be launched in over 50 countries, and it will interesting to see whether or not it is able to topple TikTok’s current hegemony.



Read next: Instagram (Just Like Facebook) Might Start Giving You More Control Over What Ads You See