TikTok to Now Let Users Create Longer Videos of Up to 3 Minutes

TikTok said on Thursday it will introduce an option over the next few weeks to let users on its platform create longer videos of up to three minutes.

TikTok, that allows users to record short mobile-friendly videos that can last up to 60 seconds and add special effects as well as soundtracks pulled from a music library, has become wildly popular with teenagers in recent years.

"Over the coming weeks, we'll be rolling out the option to create longer videos to everyone on TikTok, giving our global community the flexibility to film, upload, and edit videos up to three minutes in length directly within TikTok," the social media company said in a blog post.

The success of TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, has also prompted many social media companies to add short-video services to their platforms, with Facebook's Instagram launching short video clips, known as Reels, as well as Snap's Snapchat rolling out Spotlight last November.

In June, the US Commerce Department said it was rescinding a list of prohibited transactions with TikTok and WeChat that were issued in September as the Trump administration sought to block new US downloads of both Chinese-owned apps.

The withdrawals came after President Joe Biden earlier this month withdrew a series of Trump-era executive orders that sought to ban new downloads of Tencent-owned WeChat and TikTok and ordered a Commerce Department review of security concerns posed by those apps and others.

The Commerce Department under Trump also had sought to ban other transactions that would have effectively banned WeChat's use in the United States and later sought similar restrictions that would have barred TikTok's use.

© Thomson Reuters 2021