According to an announcement made by the company, social media and discussion board Reddit is set to acquire TikTok competitor Dubsmash. Dubsmash has experienced relatively sound success, coming in at second behind TikTok in total downloads for apps of its type.
Many details of the deal are unknown, such as the price Reddit paid for the acquisition and whether or not any personnel will be laid off or new personnel hired. The agreement stipulates that Dubsmash will remain an independent social media platform, but its video creation tools will be integrated within Reddit.
From a business standpoint, the acquisition of Dubsmash by Reddit seems like an obvious move. Fears of the future of TikTok amid President Donald Trump's attempted ban and potential legislation from members of Congress might or might not shut down the app in the United States, but the relative struggle the Chinese owned app experiences and the fears of its users leave room for new apps to take TikTok's spot. TikTok's possible deal with Oracle
Dubsmash in and of itself has been relatively successful, growing quickly to become popular with both women (which makes up 70% of the app's userbase) and Black and Latino users.
From a public relations standpoint, the acquisition also makes perfect sense for Reddit, which has long dealt with a reputation as a safe harbor for controversial topics such as racism. Only since 2018 has open and blatant racism been disallowed on Reddit, with company leadership doubling down on efforts to rein in hate speech on its platform. Dubsmash, which is immensely popular with Latinos, blacks, and women, adds an entirely new layer of diversity to Reddit's userbase, and may help rebuild the platform's image.
The acquisition also comes at an exciting time for social media, being announced the week after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an antitrust suit against Facebook
- https://gizmodo.com/reddit-swallows-dubsmash-tiktoks-closest-competitor-1845879298
- https://www.cnet.com/news/reddit-buys-tiktok-competitor-dubsmash/
- https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/14/22173774/reddit-acquires-dubsmash-tiktok-rival-short-form-video-tools
- https://www.pws.io/federal-trade-commission-files-antitrust-suit-against-facebook