Facebook Courts TikTok Creators: Lucrative Deals Offered To Join Instagram Reels

Facebook is reportedly looking to shore up the offerings on its upcoming service, Instagram Reels, by offering big-money deals to notable TikTok creators.

The social media giant is said to have offered six-figure deals to creators with millions of followers on the teen-favorite video-sharing platform to move over to theirs once it launches in more countries, according to the Wall Street Journal,.

Facebook reportedly will launch Reels, an attempt to compete with the wildly successful TikTok, globally next month. The service will add short video-sharing capabilities to the Facebook-owned, photo-based social media platform Instagram. It has been available in Brazil since November, in France and Germany since June, and in India since shortly after the country banned TikTok.

“We remain committed to investing in both our creators and their experience,” Facebook spokeswoman Sarissa Thrower told WSJ.

In addition to the U.S., the forthcoming global launch of Reels will reportedly also include the U.K., Japan, and Mexico, among many other countries.

The deals offered to TikTok creators will encourage, but not require them to post exclusively to Reels. Anyone who takes a deal but does not wish to become exclusive will be asked to post their content first to Reels, followed by other platforms an unknown amount of time later.

Reports about Reels’ global expansion began to surface in recent weeks, with NBC News reporting earlier in July that the feature would launch in 50 countries in August. The outlet added that global availability for Reels had been in the works for over a year by that time.

Just like its competitor, Reels allows users to create videos up to 15 seconds long with access to a large catalogue of music that can be added to the footage. Users will also be able to borrow audio from videos created by others.

Facebook’s plan to launch Reels globally with poached talent comes as TikTok faces heavy scrutiny from governments and the public over its perceived privacy concerns. Because the company is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, many worry that the app provides user data to the Chinese government. TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims, but a handful of security reports claim to have confirmed it.

As a result of those concerns, many countries, like the U.S., are considering a complete ban on the popular app. India has already done it, while the U.S. Congress is expected to soon pass a ban on the app for government-issued devices given to federal employees.