YouTube Is Working On A TikTok Rival Called Shorts

Google-owned video sharing site YouTube is working on a new app called Shorts to rival the dominance of Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok,

Just like TikTok, Shorts will allow users to upload short videos into a feed inside the mobile app and as well, take advantage of licensed music and songs that YouTube has in its catalog to use as soundtracks for video created by users.

This is potentailly big…. And, bonus: YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki and I talked about TikTok in a podcast episode that will air later this month. We’ve got an item coming soon confirming this news, along with a few of her comments on YouTube & short-form video >>> https://t.co/0Pqm6JqVUz

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) April 1, 2020

Over the last two years, TikTok has seen over 125% in growth and has hundreds of millions of users and a strong influence mechanism. According to the Information, TikTok has recorded over the last 12 months about 842 million fist time downloads on the App Store and Google Play Store, which is a 12% rise year over year.

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This won't be the first time that TikTok's dominance will be challenged. Facebook too has developed its own version of TikTok, though the social giant is testing the app in a few markets such as Brazil, and haven't made it available to people worldwide.

On YouTube's part, this won't be the first time that the Google-owned company has developed its own version of a popular feature on another social platform. YouTube also has its own version of Instagram Stories on its site.

Just like Huawei and other Chinese companies, TikTok has been labeled by US politicians as a national threat. The US Army and Navy has banned the use of TikTok on government phones. Last month, TSA stopped using TikTok videos in its social media posts.