Instagram starts testing TikTok replacement 'Reels', days after Govt ban

Guwahati: The social media platform Instagram had launched the trial of a new feature called Reels last year in November. In this feature, users can mimic the functionality of popular short video application TikTok which creates 15-second engaging videos using a catalogue of music and user-generated audio clips.

The company had announced last week that it was testing the feature in France and Germany, but a new report claims that the feature might have made its way to Indian users as well. As per official reports, Instagram has started to test its short-video feature Instagram Reels in India.

In addition, sources have also confirmed that some users have started receiving Instagram with Reels feature built into it. Earlier, Reels could be shared only as Instagram Stories but now, there's is an entirely different tab for Reels on the app. The option to capture a 'Reel' will come alongside Boomerang and Zoom.

This development has come to the fore shortly after the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok. Meanwhile, a popular desi alternative to TikTok called Chingari in India has recorded over 1 crore downloads in just a few weeks.

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