Facebook, Snap Inc Want to Buy Tiktok Rival Dubsmash, Reports Say

By Dana Cruz First Posted: Aug 13, 2020 05:41 AM EDT

Facebook Inc and Snapchat owner Snap Inc held talks to buy Dubsmash, The Information reported Wednesday.

Reports from someone familiar with the matter said that Facebook and Snap approached Dubsmash about a deal in recent weeks.

The progress of the talks also reportedly went far enough to have a price tag worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But reports also added that both Facebook and Snap are no longer in the deal talks.

A Snap spokesman said they admire the Dubsmash team, but they aren't in active talks to buy the app, the Reuters reported.

Facebook, on the other hand, declined to comment on the matter. The officials said they wouldn't be commenting on "rumor or speculation."

They also did confirm that they weren't in "active discussions" with Dubsmash, as reported by the Business Insider. Dubsmash was not immediately available for response.

Facebook, Snap Boost Efforts to Compete with TikTok

Dubsmash is a lip-syncing video app that has surged in popularity as other video sharing apps like TikTok. It has been around since 2013 and is considered a rival of TikTok.

It was one of the early apps to adopt the audio-based, video-splicing format that later became well-liked with TikTok. The New York Times reported that most of the internet's most viral dances came from Dubsmash before it came to TikTok.

Facebook and Snap have been looking for ways to make video sharing apps similar to TikTok's popular format.

Earlier this month, Facebook launched Instagram Reels while Snap started to put music overlay features for videos.

Privacy Issues with TikTok

News on Dubsmash's purchase came days after President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok and dealings from its parent company ByteDance.

TikTok has 45 days to divest itself and reach a deal with negotiations frontrunner Microsoft Corp. So far, both companies are still working out a deal.

The company was rushed to get its U.S. operations bought out because Trump believed that the social media app poses a threat to the country's national security. Many politicians also believed that the app is sharing information with the Chinese government.

Trump issued an order to explain this as well, stating that there are "vast swaths" of data that the app gathers from its users. These could include network activity and location.

The two companies have until September 15 to come up with a deal. It is expected that Microsoft will protect personal data from Americans stored in the app.

TikTok had already defended itself and said they never shared information with the Chinese government.

Facebook is also facing antitrust issues and has face Congress recently for it. The subject covers Facebook's purchase of former competitors like photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp.

Dubsmash Sees Boost in Downloads

Dubsmash and other video-sharing apps have seen boosts in downloads in recent times. It has also seen more users as TikTok's 100 million monthly users in the U.S. are preparing for a future without the viral app.

While a nationwide ban will likely not happen, the threat to TikTok was enough to scare users into a panic. They are not sure where to make their content and find their favorite creators.