It was too good an opportunity for Meta to ignore: On January 19, TikTok launched one of theirs biggest social media competitorsshould go dark in the United States as a new national security law came into force. In the days and weeks leading up to the ban, as millions of Americans searched for a suitable alternative to TikTok, Meta found ways to promote Instagram and Facebook as the answer. The tech giant made a series of design changes, introduced new features and ran advertising that positioned all of its platforms – and particularly its video product Reels – as direct competitors to TikTok.
Instagram has driven back Meta has been improving its in-app shopping initiatives in recent years, but on Friday Meta unveiled a new feature that appears to have been directly copied TikTok ShopTikTok’s widely successful e-commerce platform. In one Promotional videoTwo shopping developers working for Meta explained how influencers can now “more prominently display” the products they market in Reels. Instead of including an Amazon or Walmart link in the comments, they can add a banner that encourages viewers to click on the item at the bottom of their videos – just like it works on TikTok Shop.
Some of Meta’s other efforts were equally targeted. Just before TikTok stopped working For about 14 hours on Saturday, some people reported that among the last things they saw on the platform were sponsored posts for Instagram. “It’s no surprise that Meta is flooding my FYP with ads for Instagram while TikTok is down tonight,” one person said in a Bluesky post, referring to TikTok’s AI-powered For You Page feed. “In my last hour on TikTok I saw ads for Instagram,” another person said in Threads.
TikTok’s Ad Library, a transparency tool that allows anyone to see what paid campaigns are running on the platform, shows that meta was running Dozens of sponsored videos across Instagram and Reels in January, which were collectively viewed by millions of users. However, the tool only includes data from a select number of countries – mostly Europe – and does not cover which ads TikTok users may have seen in the United States. Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Facebook, several people reported that another promotion appeared in their news feeds last week encouraging them to link their TikTok accounts to their Facebook pages. “Build your social presence across apps by displaying your TikTok profile link and follower count on your Facebook page,” one version of the message reads.
Given the timing, “this feels a bit passive-aggressive,” one user wrote on X along with a screenshot of the banner. “Facebook is trolling users by suggesting we add our TikTok accounts to our Facebook pages,” another person joked.
The command prompt appears to be associated with a Special feature Launched last month, Meta allows users to view their YouTube, TikTok and Instagram handles and follower counts on Facebook. However, the banner people have seen over the past few days only mentioned TikTok by name. The feature makes it easier for followers of creators on other platforms to find and follow them on Facebook.
