Reddit has acquired one of TikTok's most prominent rivals: Dubsmash. The short-form video platform is known for elevating diverse creators, and will soon be integrated with Reddit.

Reddit Adds Dubmash to Its Arsenal

Reddit announced its purchase of Dubsmash in a post on Upvoted, the official Reddit blog. Despite the acquisition, Dubsmash will still retain its own brand and identity.

Dubmash first emerged in 2015 as a lip-syncing app. At first, the platform didn't offer a way to share these videos; it was only a creation tool. After seeing TikTok's success in 2017, Dubsmash decided to rebuild itself as a social platform. It has since proven to be a solid alternative to TikTok.

As for the reason behind the purchase, Reddit notes that Dubsmash's community-oriented platform is compatible with Reddit's values, stating:

Dubsmash’s mission is unique among social platforms, and is aligned with Reddit’s own mission of bringing community and belonging to everyone in the world. Just as Reddit is a place for content you won’t see anywhere else on the Internet, Dubsmash provides a welcoming platform for creators and users who are under-represented in social media.

Reddit then went on to say that around 25 percent of all black teenagers in the US use Dubmash, and that females make up around 70 percent of its users. Dubmash also sees around one billion videos published per month, which shows its users' dedication.

Dubmash's video-making tools will also be integrated into Reddit, which will undoubtedly change the Reddit experience in the pending future. Reddit first rolled out native videos in 2017, and has since seen the number of videos created on the platform double in 2020.

Reddit's acquisition of Dubmash may seem odd to some, given Reddit's history of hate speech plaguing some of its communities. The platform has been heavily criticized in the past for its handling of hate speech and racism.

In June 2020, moderators penned an open letter to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, urging Huffman to take action on hate speech. The platform responded by making changes to its content policy. It also announced the resignation of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who asked to be replaced by a black candidate.

Will the Reddit/Dubsmash Duo Take Down TikTok?

Now that Dubmash will be integrated with Reddit, Reddit will be able to join the race to take down TikTok. Reddit has already seen an increase in the number of users on its platform, so it may prove to be a real threat.

Reddit will join the short-form video competition alongside Instagram, which has already unveiled Reels. Instagram specifically launched Reels to compete with TikTok, and even added a dedicated section on the platform for TikTok-like clips.