
As TikTok’s future in the U.S. hangs in the balance, rival social media platforms are seizing the opportunity to capture users by introducing new features and apps. While Bluesky and X have launched a dedicated vertical video channel, Meta has been making numerous changes in recent days, some to mirror TikTok and others seemingly to cater to the current political environment.
The company unveiled the new video editing app Edits on Sunday, after CapCut was removed from Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store in the U.S. as part of the TikTok ban. Edits is designed specifically for creators who produce content on their smartphones, offering a suite of creative tools, including a dedicated inspiration tab, a tab for tracking ideas, and a high-quality camera. The app also allows users to share drafts with friends and collaborators, as well as track video performance insights after sharing on Instagram. It will be released next month on iOS and an Android version will follow later in the year.
Besides the app, Meta has changed the Instagram screen to be vertical, a revamp that makes it more visually like TikTok. Additionally, attracting content creators is high on the company’s to-do list. Meta will pay TikTok creators who post on Instagram and Facebook with its new Breakthrough Bonus program that will pay eligible creators up to $5,000 USD within a 90-day period. Meta also says it will be signing content deals with TikTok creators to post on Instagram and Facebook. Eligible creators will have access to Facebook’s content monetization program, which lets users earn money from posting videos, photos, and text posts.
This is not the first time the company has introduced new features in response to the challenges faced by its competitors. When TikTok was banned in India in June 2020, Meta swiftly launched Instagram Reels, a similar short-form video feature. More recently, in 2023, it unveiled Threads, a rival to text-based social networks like X.
Its updates, however, come at a time when other platform changes have upset users. These changes include its ending the third-party fact-checking program in the U.S. and leaning into free speech by loosening its moderation of content. There are also reports of Meta blocking Democrat-related content and pushing users toward Trump-focused content and websites.
Over at Bluesky, the app has launched a popular videos section in the Explore tab, where users can now swipe up to see more videos. Users can also pin the feed to the home screen or add it to the feed list.
The platform is also creating alternatives to TikTok on the AT protocol (the decentralized protocol behind Bluesky), such as Tik.Blue, Skylight.Social and Bluescreen.Blue. These apps are in the early stages of development and are running with closed test programs. Additionally, Bluesky recently announced that it was working on Flashes, a video-sharing app that will support photo posts of up to four images and videos of up to one minute in length. Users who post on the app will see their posts on Bluesky, as well as the comments they receive for the publications.
As its popularity has grown exponentially in recent months (with more than 27.5 million users to date), Bluesky has been continually enhancing its features while seeking to position itself as a viable alternative to X. The social network has also been updated as users increasingly look for options beyond Meta platforms, following the discontinuation of its fact-checking program.
Dewey updates to include TikTok content
A bookmark back-up service called Dewey has launched a solution that saves TikTok users’ favourite videos and allows them to access them at any time, even if TikTok disappears again.
Dewey – which works as a hub for organizing and accessing saved messages, even if the original content is deleted – was initially launched in 2021 to help users organize their X bookmarks. Since then, it has been updated to include various tools for backing up material posted on other social networks, including Bluesky, Threads, LinkedIn and Truth Social. This is the first time Dewey has supported a video-focused social network on its service. According to its website, the company is also working on support for Reddit and Instagram.
The updates come as TikTok becomes available again in the U.S., but its future remains uncertain. American users briefly lost access to the app last Sunday, when the ban went into effect more than an hour before the government’s deadline for ByteDance to sell it. The app was turned back on 12 hours later, after president Trump intervened. The new U.S. president signed an executive order on Monday postponing the country’s ban of TikTok for 75 days, giving ByteDance more time to sell the platform.

With files from Patti Summerfield.