

TikTok certainly upended the tech sector by capitalizing on the shift in tastes toward algorithm-recommended content and short-form video, helping the platform amass a user base exceeding 1 billion people. In fairness to the Big Tech giants targeted by TikTok, the ByteDance unit still needs to prove that it’s not biting off more than it can chew. A former ByteDance employee also told TechCrunch that the company has considered launching Resso under the “TikTok Music” brand in other countries. While TikTok hasn’t announced additional plans for audio streaming, it already operates one platform, called Resso, in Brazil, India, and Indonesia.

While many of these updates remain in the testing phase, the scope and ambition of TikTok’s expansion signal ByteDance’s aspirations for creating a super-app–style product capable of reshaping the digital landscape. TikTok has not-so-quietly started developing or rolling out several new features designed to steal market share from many of the tech industry’s power players, including Apple, Google, and Meta. Yet amid all this mimicry, there’s a trend quickly emerging: TikTok actually wants to be more like its competitors. Amazon, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday, is testing a photo and video feed for online shoppers that looks like TikTok.

YouTube created a new feature (Shorts) entirely designed to be like TikTok. Meta overhauled Facebook and Instagram to make them more like TikTok.
