Launching its own version of TikTok, Facebook “the mermaid”

Right place, right place

Reels is a short video platform that Instagram users use to create content with sound. In addition, it is also equipped with virtual reality tape calculator that allows users to create new angles for videos. It is identical to what users can do on the Chinese social network TikTok.

Immediately after the information about Reels was announced, Facebook shares rose more than 6% when the session ended.

In fact, the feature was first launched in Brazil in November 2019, but it won’t be released until this week in the US and other markets.

For Facebook, TikTok is seen as a growing threat due to its popularity among American teenagers. TikTok claims to have more than 100 million monthly users in the US. However, this Chinese application is being targeted by the administration of President Donald Trump with allegations related to personal information of users.

The fact that TikTok is having difficulty in the US market is the reason why investors have high expectations of Facebook’s move, especially when its competitors are struggling to find a way to survive in the US.

Critical moment for TikTok

Currently, Microsoft is in talks with ByteDance, which owns the TikTok app, to buy its operations in the US and many other Western and Oceania countries. If an agreement is not reached by the September 15 deadline, President Trump will ban the application.

However, in addition to economic or business issues, the deal is subject to political pressure. China is repeatedly criticizing the US when it forces ByteDance to sell part of the TikTok application to US businesses.

“It goes against the principles of a market economy and the principles of openness, transparency and non-discrimination of the World Trade Organization (WTO),” said Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang. Van Ban said in a press conference on August 4. Mr. Ban also called the US action as overt bullying.

TikTok is the latest victim in the context of two of the world’s biggest economies escalating tensions. Not long before, the US and China also closed each other’s consulates when the conflicts were not resolved.

Beyond trade, tensions between the US and China have spread to the tech sector to the global geopolitics. The US blaming China for the spread of Covid-19 exacerbated the problem. Even, people are afraid of a Cold War 2.0 will break out when the two economies continue to maintain a confrontation. However, until now, it is too early to confirm that.

However, if it comes to Microsoft, TikTok will become a formidable opponent. Microsoft itself also wants to own TikTok to compete with competitors in the field they have long been absent from: Social Networks.