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Triller is a video-making and social-networking service owned by Proxima Media. It allows users to automatically edit and synchronize their videos to background tracks using artificial intelligence (AI). Triller was released for iOS and Android in 2015, and it is currently led by President and CEO Mike Lu. The app features celebrity users, including The Weeknd and Justin Bieber.

The company claims to have over 250 million downloads, though this figure is currently under review. Triller has also been criticized for paying its content creators to move over from its rival app TikTok. In July 2020, Triller sued TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, for patent infringement. To date, Triller has raised over $100 million from various investment banks, angel investors, and Hollywood studios. In August 2020, Triller became the #1 downloaded app on the U.S. App Store amid threats of a TikTok ban from the Trump administration.

History
Triller was launched in 2015 by co-founders David Leiberman and Sammy Rubin. The app was originally a video-editing service, using artificial intelligence to automatically edit distinct clips into music videos. They later launched Triller Famous, a page within the app that featured curated selections of user videos. In 2016, the app was converted into a social-networking service by allowing users to follow each other and share their videos publicly. The company is based in Los Angeles, California.

Features
The Triller app allows users to create music videos, skits, and lip-syncing videos containing background music. The app’s spotlight feature is its special auto-editing tool, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically stitch separate video clips together without the user having to do it themselves. The separate video clips are created to the same background music, but users are able shoot multiple takes with different filters or edits each time. Once the auto-editing tool stitches the individual clips together, users can rearrange and replace clips as desired. Users can also customize videos by applying filters and text.

When creating a video, users can choose to make a “music video” or a “social video”. A “music video” allows users to add music and trim the audio to personal preference. Unlike the music video option, a “social video” does not require the user to add music in the background. The app’s auto-editing tool is only used when making music videos, as it uses the background track to help arrange and synchronize the clips.

Incomplete videos that are yet to be shared appear in a user’s “Projects” folder. Once finalized, a video can be shared with other users of the app or through social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Youtube. Any video on Triller can also be downloaded or shared through links, text messages, or direct messaging within the app. Users can send their friends videos or messages with the direct message feature. The direct messages are divided into messages received by people that a user is “Following” and “Others”.

The “Trills” page functions similarly to Instagram’s “Reels” page or TikTok’s “For You” page. It shows famous content creators and their videos, including creators such as Charli D’Amelio, Dixie D’Amelio, Marshmello, Major Lazer, and more. This page also displays trending videos from other users. The “Following” page displays only videos of who the user follows. The “Trending/Top Videos” page features different challenges or trends that are going viral on the app, along with the most-viewed and most-liked videos. The “Activity” page displays accounts that started following the user, along with comments or replies on videos, and accounts that liked the user’s videos. The Triller app contains a "Discovery" page where users can choose their music from trending charts but users could alternatively connect their Apple Music account or import their own music from their device.

Triller accounts can be made either public or private. When the account is public, any user can view the videos on that account. When the account is private, only approved users can view the videos on that account. Users with private accounts can change the privacy settings of an individual video on their own account from private to public, making the specific video viewable to anyone on the app. In accordance with online child privacy laws in the United States, children under the age of 13 must receive parental consent in order to create an account on Triller.

User statistics
In October 2020, Triller CEO Mike Lu stated that the app has 100 million monthly active users. Triller has attracted celebrity users like Chance the Rapper, Justin Bieber, Marshmello, The Weeknd, Alicia Keys, Cardi B, Eminem, Post Malone and Kevin Hart. The app is also used by TikTok stars such as Charlie D’Amelio, Josh Richards, Noah Beck, Griffin Johnson, and Dixie D’Amelio.

With a total of 250 million app downloads worldwide, Triller has users from all over the world. The app has been downloaded 23.8 million times in the U.S. A large number of downloads come from India, where TikTok has been banned, as well as from various European and African countries.

TikTok bans and Triller
On June 29, 2020, the Indian government banned TikTok due to data and privacy concerns. Triller, which had planned to tap into the Indian market by the end of 2020, saw a spike from less than 1 million users to over 30 million users from the country overnight. Following TikTok’s ban in India, Triller jumped to the #1 spot in the “Photo and Video” section of the Indian App Store.

In August 2020, President Donald Trump signed an executive order which threatened to ban TikTok from operating within the United States, citing threats to national security, unless it was sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance. The Trump administration has stated that TikTok has until November 12, 2020 to assure the administration that the app does not pose any national security threats to the U.S. Following this order and news of possible purchases of TikTok’s American operations by companies such as Oracle, Triller jumped from #198 to #1 in the United States App Store. Meanwhile, TikTok dropped to #3 on the U.S. App Store. The discussions surrounding TikTok’s potential ban in the United States has caused popular TikTok stars, including Charlie D’Amelio and her family, to join Triller.

Patent infringement claims
In July 2020, Triller sued ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, for copying their patented video-editing technology. The company is seeking damages and requesting an injunction against TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in order to prevent further patent violations. The official complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas on July 29, 2020.

Funding and IPO plans
As of October 2020, Triller has raised $100 million at a $1.25 billion valuation. They have received notable investments from Proxima Media (majority investor) and Pegasus Tech Ventures. The platform has also drawn angel investments from famous artists such as Marshmello, The Weeknd, Snoop Dogg, and Lil Wayne. The company is currently in talks to raise an additional $250 million through private fundraising. According to reports, Triller is also considering a potential merger and IPO with Farvahar Partners LLC, an investment bank.

Paying for talent
In order to attract talent to their platform and poach content creators from rival social-media platform TikTok, Triller has been accused of providing their creators with equity in the company as well as large sums of money. Triller has made a deal with TikTok stars The Sway Boys to post more on Triller than TikTok and encourage their fans to move to Triller in exchange for equity in the company and company advisor titles.

Inflating download statistics
As of August 2020, Triller claimed to have around 250 million downloads globally. Mobile data and analytics firm Apptopia has argued that this number is inflated, suggesting that the app has only been downloaded 52 million times since it first launched in 2015. In response, Triller threatened to sue Apptopia for disseminating false information. Apptopia decided to retract its report following a series of discussions with Triller.