For Meta it was an opportunity that was too good to ignore: On January 19, TikTok, one of the biggest social media rivalswas set to go dark across the United States when a new national security law Came into effect. In the days and weeks before the ban, when millions of Americans were struggling to find a suitable alternative to TikTok, Meta looked for ways to promote Instagram and Facebook as an answer. The tech giant rolled out a flurry of design changes, introduced new features, and ran ads that positioned all of its platforms — and especially its video product, Reels — as a direct competitor to TikTok.
instagram is scaled back its in-app purchase initiatives in recent years, but on Friday, Meta showed off a new feature that appears to be ripped straight from tiktok shopTikTok's massively successful ecommerce platform. one in promotional videoTwo shopping creators who work for Meta explained how influencers can now “more prominently feature” the products they are marketing in Reels. Instead of putting an Amazon or Walmart link in the comments, they can add a banner directing viewers to click on the item below their video — just like it works on the TikTok shop.
Some of Meta's other efforts were similar. just before tiktok stopped working For about 14 hours on Saturday, some people reported that the last things they saw on the platform were sponsored posts for Instagram. “Surprisingly, just as TikTok is closing tonight, Meta is flooding my FYP for Instagram with ads,” one person said in a BlueSky post, referring to TikTok's AI-powered For You page feed. “In my last hour of TikTok I saw ads for Instagram,” said another person on the threads.
TikTok's ad library, a transparency tool that allows anyone to discover what paid campaigns are running on the platform, shows that Meta ran dozens Sponsored videos about Instagram and Reels that were collectively viewed by millions of users in January. But the tool only includes data from a select few countries — mostly in Europe — and doesn't cover what ads TikTok users in the United States may have seen. Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Facebook, many people reported a different promotion appearing on their News Feed last week, encouraging them to link their TikTok accounts to their Facebook Pages. “Build your social presence across apps by showing your TikTok profile link and follower count on your Facebook Page,” one version of the message said.
Given the timing, “This seems a little passive aggressive,” one user wrote on X along with a screenshot of the banner. Another person joked, “Facebook is trolling users by suggesting they add their TikTok accounts to their Facebook pages.”
The signal appears to be connected to a Speciality Meta was launched last month that allows users to display their YouTube, TikTok and Instagram handles and follower count on Facebook. However, the banner that people reported seeing in recent days only mentioned TikTok by name. This feature makes it easier for followers of creators on other platforms to find and follow them on Facebook.