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Facebook’s TikTok clone Lasso will shut down this month

Facebook’s TikTok clone Lasso will shut down this month

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The same day as Hobbi

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Lasso was an app designed to let users make short 15-second videos.
Lasso was an app designed to let users make short 15-second videos.
Image: Facebook

Facebook is shutting down Lasso, the heavily TikTok-inspired video app it launched back in 2018. CNN’s Kerry Flynn spotted the notifications being sent to users, telling them that the app won’t be usable after July 10th, and advising them to download any videos they want to keep. 

Ex-TechCrunch editor Josh Constine notes that Facebook appears to be shutting down Lasso as its focus shifts to Instagram’s Reels feature. Reels is a video editing tool that lets users record and edit TikTok-style videos which they can then post to their Instagram Stories, send via DM, or post to a new section of the Explore tab called Top Reels. The feature launched in Brazil last year and expanded to France and Germany last week, according to TechCrunch.

Lasso was only ever available in select markets worldwide. TechCrunch reports that as well as being available in the US, the app was also available in Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Uruguay as of February.

Lasso isn’t the only Facebook-owned service that’s due to shut down on July 10th. Yesterday, TechCrunch reported that Facebook is also shutting down Hobbi, an experimental Pinterest-like app designed to help people document personal projects. Hobbi was the work of Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team, and only launched back in February of this year.