YouTube releasing its own version of TikTok in India with Shorts

YouTube will first test the feature in India over the next few days and then expand to more countries in the coming months, it said in a blog post on Monday.

"Over the next few days in India, we’re launching an early beta of Shorts with a handful of new creation tools to test this out. This is an early version of the product, but we're releasing it now to bring you — our global community of users, creators and artists — on our journey with us as we build and improve Shorts."

YouTube's new product, which will compete with Facebook Inc's Reels and TikTok, will let users record short mobile-friendly vertical videos and then add special effects and soundtracks pulled from a music library.

The announcement also comes as Oracle Corp and China's ByteDance team up to keep TikTok operating in the United States, beating Microsoft Corp in a deal structured as a partnership rather than an outright sale.

YouTube's entry into the short-form video service space coincides with TikTok's ban in one of its biggest market, India, following the country's escalating tensions with China.