With TikTok now banned in India, Facebook-owned Instagram is reportedly testing its 15-second short video feature ‘Reels’ in India. This comes at a time when TikTok alternatives Chingari, Roposo, among others are aggressively luring influencers and TikTok users onto their platforms.
According to a Business Insider report, some users in India have begun receiving an update from Instagram, which now includes Reels.
Similar to TikTok, Reels allows users to make 15-second videos with audio clips and add them to Stories, post them on their feed, or even DM them. The feature is available in the camera icon on the top left corner that lets users record Stories.
The video clips that get a lot of traction and go viral or start trending, will be featured on a separate page under Top Reels.
A Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider that the company is looking to test an updated version of Reels is more countries, but declined to reveal specific details.
Instagram first launched Reels in Brazil last year, and later expanded it to France and Germany as well. Interestingly, Facebook also recently shutdown its TikTok-type app ‘Lasso’, as it reportedly shifts focus to Reels.
For Instagram, the launch comes at a very opportune time when several TikTok influencers and content creators have said that they will now move to platforms such as Instagram to continue creating content.
India recently banned 59 Chinese apps including the most popular short video app in the country TikTok, which considers India as its biggest market outside of China with over 600 lifetime downloads in the country.
ByteDance is reportedly anticipating a loss of over $6 billion after three of its apps, including TikTok, were banned by India this week.
Now that the app is blocked, Users are greeted with a screen of that they have no internet connectivity, and then get a pop-up that says: “Dear users, we are in the process of complying with the Government of India’s directive to block 59 apps. Ensuring the privacy and security of all our users in India remains our utmost priority.”
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