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It was too good an opportunity for Meta to ignore: TikTok on January 19, one of them biggest social media competitorsSet to go dark across the United States when a new national security law entered into force. In the days and weeks before the ban, as millions of Americans scrambled to find a viable alternative to TikTok, Meta found ways to promote Instagram and Facebook in response. The tech giant has made many design changes, introduced new features, and released ads that position all of its platforms, and in particular, its video product Reels, as a direct competitor to TikTok.
There is Instagram withdrew in-app purchase initiatives in recent years, but on Friday Meta showed off a new feature that looks like it’s been ripped straight off. TikTok StoreTikTok’s massively successful e-commerce platform. a promotional videoTwo shopping creators working for Meta explained how influencers can now “more prominently showcase” the products they’re marketing on Reels. Instead of putting an Amazon or Walmart link in the comments, they can add a banner that directs viewers to click on an item below their video, similar to how it works on the TikTok Shop.
Some of Meta’s other efforts were as mentioned. Right before TikTok stopped working For about 14 hours on Saturday, some people reported that sponsored posts for Instagram were among the last things they saw on the platform. “No wonder Meta is flooding my FYP with ads for Instagram tonight as TikTok goes down,” one person wrote in a Bluesky post, referring to TikTok’s AI-powered For You page feed. “I saw an ad for instagram in the last hour of TikTok,” said another person on Threads.
TikTok’s Ad Library shows Meta, a transparency tool that allows anyone to search which paid campaigns are running on the platform, is running. with them Sponsored videos on Instagram and Reels watched together by millions of users in January. However, the tool only includes data from a select number of countries (mostly in Europe) and does not include ads seen by TikTok users in the US. Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A number of people on Facebook reported seeing a different promotion appear in their news feeds last week, encouraging them to link their TikTok accounts to their Facebook pages. One version of the message reads: “Build your social presence across apps by displaying your TikTok profile link and follower count on your Facebook page.”
Considering the timing, “this seems a little passive aggressive,” one user wrote on X along with a screenshot of the banner. “Facebook is trolling users by offering to add our TikTok accounts to our Facebook pages,” another person joked.
The query appears to be about a feature Last month, Meta launched, allowing users to display their YouTube, TikTok and Instagram handles and follower count on Facebook. However, the banner that people have seen in recent days only mentions the name TikTok. This feature makes it easier for creators to find and follow them on Facebook for their followers on other platforms.
