Follow live updates on the Supreme Court ruling against TikTok.
On Wednesday afternoon, Meta executives held a question-and-answer session with some of their employees about the state of American politics.
Alex Schultz, chief marketing officer, addressed questions about Meta's embrace of the incoming Trump administration and what he said was the company's precarious position abroad, according to two aides. He also said that Meta was paying close attention to the fate of one of its biggest competitors: TikTok.
Depending on what happened with TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and faces a ban in the United States, Meta needed to prepare for what could be a seismic shift in the way Americans use social media, Schultz said. Meta had the potential to benefit, but said the company needed to be prepared.
Meta, owner of facebook, instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, has a vested interest in the outcome. The Silicon Valley giant, along with Google's YouTube and other social media apps, could benefit if a law banning TikTok in the United States goes into effect on Sunday, leaving TikTok's 170 million monthly U.S. users in the lurch. misery. On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld the federal law in question.
Privately, Meta has sent teams to prepare to pick up as many TikTok refugees as possible, three people familiar with the plans said. That includes doing more to court popular TikTok influencers and possibly modifying instagram further to make certain features more familiar to regular TikTok users, they said. instagram offers Reels, a short-form video product that competes with TikTok.
“instagram is a natural home” for TikTok creators and users, said Richard Kramer, a financial analyst at Arete Research. “Like TikTok, the app offers online shopping and strong user engagement.”
YouTube has also made changes to its app, notably YouTube Shorts, which offers users quick vertical videos, to attract TikTok creators. In October, YouTube expanded the maximum length of YouTube Shorts videos to three minutesinstead of one, to capture creators accustomed to TikTok, where videos can be up to 10 minutes long. This week, YouTube invited some creators who use its app and TikTok to a YouTube Shopping “boot camp” program to get started with the platform.
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said the company was “following the news.” He added: “Like other applications and services in this highly competitive space, we are of course evaluating what various potential scenarios could mean for our products.”
A YouTube spokeswoman said the company regularly hosts training camps to educate creators on product features and formats.
For years, Meta and Google have prepared for the possibility of a TikTok ban in the United States. Its planning accelerated in April, when President Biden signed a bill into law that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok to non-Chinese owners or face a ban in the United States. TikTok sued the federal government to challenge the law, and the case eventually reached the Supreme Court.
In public, Meta and Google have remained relatively quiet about what could happen if TikTok is banished from the United States, but they have been active behind the scenes, three people familiar with the companies' plans said.
At Wednesday's Meta meeting led by Schultz, executives discussed how to divide internal resources, including workers and financial support, in part to deal with a potential influx of TikTok users, the two employees familiar with the call said. . Some teams have discussed how to help TikTok users transition to instagram, including potentially bringing some of their TikTok videos to instagram, the people said.
instagram and YouTube would “incrementally” see more revenue and time spent by users on their apps if TikTok were banned, John Blackledge, an analyst at investment firm TD Cowen, said in an interview. But instagram has the advantage, he said.
American internet users said they were most likely to watch instagram Reels after the TikTok ban, according to a recent TD Cowen survey of 2,500 consumers. According to the survey, Reels would appeal to 29 percent of respondents, while 23 percent said they would spend more time on YouTube Shorts and 15 percent would look for a new app.
Among advertisers, instagram's advantage seemed even starker: 56 percent of ad buyers told TD Cowen in a survey last quarter that their clients wanted to advertise more on Reels this year. Another 24 percent prioritized YouTube shorts, while 20 percent preferred TikTok.
Meta and Google aren't the only companies trying to profit from TikTok's potential misfortune. On Saturday, newsletter startup Substack announced a $25,000 “TikTok Liberation Prize,” which will be awarded to the creator whose video convinces the most TikTokers to post about joining Substack, no matter what. pass with TikTok.
Clapper, a short video app similar to TikTok, this week offered some creators $200 for every video they make that advertises their site as a TikTok refugee destination. The company said the fee varied depending on the content and the creator's followers. And Xiaohongshu, a Chinese TikTok-like app known colloquially as “RedNote” in English, has also shot to the top of the App Store.
Still, it is still far from decided which company could take over TikTok's territory. Sammi Scotto, who creates content for TikTok and helps other creators join social media platforms, said she wasn't putting all her eggs in one basket.
“I'll focus on instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn,” he said, “but I'll keep an eye on the others.”
