Instagram is reportedly considering launching its short-form video feature, Reels, as a standalone app due to uncertainty surrounding the future of TikTok in the US.
Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, reportedly informed staff about the potential plan this week, according to a report from The Information, which cited an insider.
Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has yet to provide a comment on the matter.
In January, former US President Donald Trump granted TikTok an additional 75 days to comply with a law signed by President Joe Biden, which mandates either the sale or ban of the platform.
At the time, he suggested the possibility of creating a joint venture to operate the company, proposing a 50-50 partnership between the United States and TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance. However, he did not provide further details on how this arrangement would work.
The Biden administration had expressed concerns that TikTok, which has 170 million users in the US, could be used by China for espionage and political manipulation.
Opponents of a ban have argued that it would infringe on freedom of speech.
In 2018, Meta launched a separate app called Lasso to compete with TikTok, but it was eventually shut down.