Facebook is shutting down Lasso, its TikTok clone

Facebook is no longer betting on Lasso, an app it launched a year and a half ago, to take on TikTok . The social juggernaut's TikTok clone is shutting down on July 10, Lasso alerted users on Wednesday.

Launched in late 2018, Lasso was seen as Facebook's answer to TikTok that's gained ground with young users, both in China and in the West. Lasso allowed users shoot up to 15-second long videos and overlay popular songs. The app centered around an algorithmic feed of recommended videos, but also allowed users to tap through hashtags or a Browse page of themed collections.

As of February, Lasso was available in Colombia, Mexico, the U.S., Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Uruguay, research firm Sensor Tower told TechCrunch.

Lasso added support for Hindi language earlier this year, prompting speculation that Facebook may eventually bring the new app to India, the American tech firm's biggest market by users account.

Lasso's demise comes ahead of the launch of Instagram Reels - the new horse Facebook is counting on to steal TikTok's lunch, said Josh Constine, who first spotted Lasso's announcement.

Facebook's TikTok clone lasso is shutting down ahead of the Instagram Reels launch, so basically Fb lost 2 years by half-assing. Brb, gotta go save my zero Lassos pic.twitter.com/VgKImjgWM4

- Josh Constine -SignalFire (@JoshConstine) July 2, 2020

It's unclear why Facebook never expanded Lasso to more markets. But what is clear is that Lasso's journey was troubled from the beginning. Brady Voss, who led the development of this app, left Facebook days after the launch of Lasso.

Earlier this week, Facebook announced it was also shutting down Hobbi, an app that allowed users to document their personal projects. Hobbi, too, was an experimental project by Facebook.

We have reached out to Facebook for comment.