Popular Chinese app TikTok has been dominating the headlines for several weeks. First, Donald Trump threatened to ban the app in the US, and Beijing responded to the threat. Then, there was tough competition between several US companies to acquire the video-sharing service. All this attracted the attention of the media. Shortly after all the fuss around TikTok calmed down, it has come under the spotlight once again.  

This time, the main focus was on the announcement of  YouTube’s management and its plans to launch a new video service called Shorts. Actually, the new app turned out to be a clone of TikTok. Notably, this is not the first attempt to copy the concept of TikTok. Not so long ago, Instagram announced the launch of a new video app, Instagram Reels, which largely resembles China’s TikTok. Experts believe that this video platform can become the main rival to the Chinese app.  It seems that YouTube decided not to stand aside and joined the race for new apps. YouTube Shorts allows users to stitch shorter clips together and apply various creative tools.  A beta version of the app has already been tested in India on Android devices. In the near future, Shorts will be tested in other countries and will be available on iOS as well.