TikTok CEO calls Zuckerberg's Reels a copycat 

On Wednesday, Kevin Mayer, the of CEO TikTok slammed Facebook for launching a copycat product known as Reels. Reels, a video-music remix feature, has been extended in its test phase to India which was until now the biggest market for TikTok, which has now been banned along with other Chinese apps.

Reels allows users to record, edit and share short multi-clip videos. "At TikTok, we welcome competition. We think fair competition makes all of us better," Mayer said in a blog post. "But let's focus our energies on fair and open competition in service of our consumers, rather than maligning attacks by our competitor - namely Facebook - disguised as patriotism and designed to put an end to our very presence in the US," he added.

Mayer continued: "To those who wish to launch competitive products, we say bring it on. Facebook is even launching another copycat product, Reels (tied to Instagram), after their other copycat Lasso failed quickly."

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Instagram is reportedly offering financial incentives to some popular TikTok creators in a bid to make them use Reels that the Facebook-owned platform plans to unveil next month in the US.

Mayer's sharp criticism came as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg began testifying before the US Congress about whether the company's online dominance is killing the competition.

*Edited from an IANS report