Instagram releases TikTok-like features amid uncertainty over rival's future
On Sunday, Instagram launched Edits, a video-editing application that seemed to be similar to CapCut, which is owned by TikTok's parent firm, ByteDance.
For months, Instagram has been watching and waiting to see what would happen to competitor TikTok under a new federal regulation that would prohibit the app in the United States. On Sunday, the day the law went into force, Instagram pounced.
The social networking app, which is owned by Meta, unveiled a new software called Edits, a video-editing application that looked to be a clone of CapCut, which millions of users use to stitch together short TikTok movies. ByteDance, the Chinese internet company, owns CapCut and TikTok, prompting the United States to investigate the applications for national security grounds.
Instagram's president, Adam Mosseri, said on Friday that the app's profile photo grids will now display photographs as rectangles rather than the app's distinctive squares, a structure that is very similar to how TikTok profile pages appear.
On Saturday, Mosseri said that Instagram would expand the maximum duration of Reels videos from 90 seconds to three minutes, following TikTok's trend, which began encouraging users to upload longer films in 2023.
“We’ve historically only allowed reels up to 90 seconds given our focus on short-form video, but we’ve heard the feedback that this is just too short for those who want to share longer stories,” Mosseri said Saturday in an Instagram post.
And on Sunday, in an Instagram video about the new Edits app, Mosseri said, “there is a lot going on in the world right now and no matter what happens, we think it’s our job to create the most compelling creative tools for those of you who make videos for not just Instagram but platforms out there.”
TikTok, CapCut, and Lemon8 went offline late Saturday, hours before the federal legislation prohibiting TikTok went into effect; however, TikTok resurfaced on Sunday as President-elect Donald J. Trump announced plans to issue an executive order this week to halt the prohibition.
Meta's news regarding Edits, which is available in app stores as of Sunday but will not be functioning until February, came only hours after TikTok restored access to US customers.
Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has spoken openly about witnessing TikTok's problem play out. His Silicon Valley corporation has engaged lobbyists to argue that American tech firms must come first in order to win a tech race with China.
At a meeting with workers last week, Meta's chief marketing officer also stated that the firm needs to prepare for a possible transfer of TikTok users to Meta's applications, and that personnel and other resources should be allocated to such prospective developments. Instagram's layout also altered for some users last week, with material formatted in a vertical, rectangular style similar to TikTok.
TikTok, which gained popularity in 2020, has presented a significant competitive challenge to Instagram, diverting users' attention and time and prompting the older service to change its algorithm. Instagram initially introduced Reels in the United States in August 2020, only days after previous and now-incoming President Donald Trump revealed plans to ban TikTok in the nation.
Even if TikTok had remained out for an extended period of time, people may not have moved to Instagram. In the week coming up to the ban, other TikTok competitors, notably another China-owned app called RedNote, grew in popularity, while Instagram downloads increased only modestly.
