Facebook considers giving up and becoming TikTok

Facebook is planning some big changes to try and keep its users from jumping to rival social platforms like TikTok — changes that sound dubiously similar to becoming a TikTok clone. Facebook head Tom Alison announced today that the platform will begin testing a “reimagined experience” later this year that will put a subset of users into a “full-screen video the moment they open the app.”

Meta didn’t share examples of what its experimental new interface will look like, only that it will initially roll out to countries with a noted preference for video content, with a potential expansion planned for the US next year. These tests are driven by Facebook observing that “video is where conversations are happening, communities are forming, and even commerce is starting to take place” — placing Meta’s original social media platform at risk of falling behind. While Meta doesn’t break out specific user figures for its individual platforms, it collectively lost 20 million users in the first quarter of 2026, according to the company’s own data.

Facebook is reportedly still the most popular social platform globally, but YouTube is a close second, and TikTok isn’t far behind — it passed the 1 billion monthly users milestone just three years after launch, significantly faster than Facebook. Meta launched Reels for Instagram in 2020 to better compete with TikTok, and now it’s trying to do something similar with Facebook. This is after Alison told The Verge in 2022 that he sees “TikTok chasing Facebook,” rather than the other way around.

Facebook has grown into a hodgepodge of social and commerce services over the years, and now it’s also emulating similar rival platforms to improve its own user experiences. Today it’s launching Seller, a dedicated Craigslist-like app for Marketplace sellers to track performance, manage listings, and message buyers. Facebook also launched its Forum app earlier this year that provides a dedicated space for people to interact with Facebook Groups — similar to subreddit communities on Reddit.

Changes are also being made to Facebook’s user verification badges, which require a paid subscription to Meta Verified that starts at $11.99 per month. Now, Facebook says it’s offering a free verified badge that can be obtained by completing a “simple selfie verification” process, with the aim of helping users know that a profile is linked to a real person.