Facebook launched its own version of the TikTok video-sharing app called Reels as a feature within Instagram in the US and 50 other countries on Wednesday.
The debut comes days after Microsoft said it was in talks to acquire the U.S. operations of TikTok from ByteDance of China. ByteDance agreed to get rid of parts of TikTok, the sources said, under pressure from the White House, which threatened to ban it and other Chinese-owned applications over data security concerns.
The launch of Reels intensifies a tough fight between Facebook and TikTok, with each posing as a threat to the other. Both have been eager to attract American teenagers, many of whom have flocked to TikTok in the past two years.
The reels were first tested in Brazil in 2018 and then in France, Germany, and India, which was TikTok's biggest market until the Indian government banned it last month after a border clash with China. Facebook also tested a standalone app called Lasso that didn't gain much traction.
Similar to TikTok, Reels users can record short vertical videos for mobile devices and then add special effects and soundtracks drawn from a music library.
Those similarities led TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer to call Reels a "copycat product" that could cost Instagram's huge existing user base after "their other copycat Lasso quickly failed."
Facebook faced similar charges at a Congressional hearing on the alleged abuse of market power by American tech companies last week, and lawmakers suggested that the company has copied rivals like Snapchat for anti-competitive reasons.
Vishal Shah, vice president of product for Instagram, acknowledged the similarities in a Tuesday video conference call with journalists, saying "inspiration for the products comes from everywhere," including Facebook teams and "the ecosystem as a whole."
Instagram doesn't plan to offer advertising or other ways for users to earn money through Reels yet, though it did recruit young online stars like dancer Merrick Hanna and musician Tiagz, who was recently signed by Sony / ATV after hitting the fame through TikTok memes. to test the product before launch.
The company paid creators for production costs, Shah said.
Joe Gagliese, CEO of influencer marketing agency Viral Nation, said Reels was prepared to emulate Instagram's success with Stories, a product inspired by Snapchat's core offering.
"They are a huge monstrous threat [to TikTok]," he said. "The current turmoil couldn't be playing more on the court [of Instagram] to launch this thing."
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