After calling Facebook a copycat last week, ByteDance, the China-based company that owns TikTok, has once again accused the social networking giant of "plagiarism and smear," saying it is facing all kinds of "complex and unimaginable difficulties", the media reported on Monday. ByteDance posted the fresh statement in the Chinese language on its own news aggregator app Jinri Toutiao'.
It said that the company faces "an intense international political environment, the collision and conflict of different cultures, and the plagiarism and smear of competitor Facebook".
Facebook was yet to respond to the fresh salvo fired at the company from the China-based ByteDance. Last week, TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer slammed Facebook for launching a copycat product known as Reels.
Reels, a video-music remix feature, has been extended in its test phase to India which was until now the biggest market for TikTok, which has now been banned along with other Chinese apps.
"At TikTok, we welcome the competition. We think fair competition makes all of us better," Mayer said in a blog post.
"But let's focus our energies on fair and open competition in service of our consumers, rather than maligning attacks by our competitor - namely Facebook - disguised as patriotism and designed to put an end to our very presence in the US," he added.
Mayer continued: "To those who wish to launch competitive products, we say bring it on. Facebook is even launching another copycat product, Reels (tied to Instagram), after their other copycat Lasso failed quickly."
ByteDance released the fresh statement as Microsoft made it official to acquire TikTok's business in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand markets following a discussion between CEO Satya Nadella and US President Donald Trump.
Trump said last week that he will ban the popular Chinese-owned video app TikTok from operating in the country through an executive order.
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