Instagram Releases ‘Reels’ Amidst Warnings of a U.S. TikTok Ban

If you’ve hopped onto your Instagram Explore page recently, you may have noticed a new section of videos called “Reels.”

On August 5th, the official Instagram account posted an introduction to the app’s new addition, explaining how Reels work and all of the features that they bring.

This new feature allows Instagram users to create 15 sec long videos with the option to add various aspects such as music, filters, and effects. You can share your new Reel video creations with your friends, or even with the world through the Explore page.

After this description and watching a few of these new Reels creations, you may be finding a ton of similarities between this addition and the TikTok app. If this is what you’re thinking, you are not alone. Even TikTok’s twitter account pointed out familiarity.

well… this looks familiar 🤔😉 https://t.co/V8GyRSXkPu

— TikTok (@tiktok_us) August 6, 2020

We have seen very instances similar to this one from Instagram before. For example, in 2016 Instagram introduced Stories, very similar to the Snapchat Stories that we had been familiar with since 2013. Many users speculate this addition to be related to the executive order that President Trump is issuing to ban transactions between the U.S. and TikTok’s owners.

Was this invention of Instagram Reels something designed to replace Tiktok? Or to serve as a backup plan in case Tiktok is banned in the U.S.? Whatever the case may be, we hope there will be someplace that we can keep the “Renegade” dance alive.

You can find out more information about Instagram Reels here.