ByteDance is pushing a new app in the U.S. as TikTok faces a ban
‘A business strategy’
Chinese tech giant ByteDance $ByteDance (FT0001)$ is pushing another social media app in the U.S. — even as its flagship short video app TikTok faces a possible ban stateside.
A combination of Pinterest and Instagram, Lemon8 has gained popularity quickly. It was the second most downloaded lifestyle app in the U.S. in the last 30 days.
“It’s certainly interesting timing. It seems like ByteDance is pushing Lemon8 as a potential alternative to TikTok and definitely as an alternative to Facebook $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ and Instagram,” said Lindsay Gorman, senior fellow for emerging tech at the German Marshall Fund.
Lemon8 also uses recommendation algorithms similar to those of TikTok.
But Lemon8′s links to ByteDance and TikTok will come under the radar of U.S. regulators too, especially as the app continues to rise in popularity.
“If Lemon8 gets shut out of the U.S. market, they have still got [millions of] people around the world who could be users of this app,” pointed out Gerstell, who said Lemon8 has already seen success in Japan.
“From a business strategy’s point of view, I don’t see a lot of downsides,” said Gerstell.
Not a solution
Creating another app to replace TikTok is not a quick solution for ByteDance, the analysts said. Chinese apps will continue to be scrutinized by the U.S.
“It might give them a fallback in case something gets hurt on TikTok but I don’t see it as generating a solution for ByteDance in this regard,” said Gerstell.
As Lemon8 continues to get more popular, it really speaks to the need for U.S. regulators to come up with a comprehensive framework to understand the risks of Chinese internet apps and address them before they spiral out of control, said Gorman.
“This problem will just proliferate. It’s a bit like Russian nesting dolls, right? You open TikTok, then you get another app. You open that app, you get another app,” said Eric Noonan, CEO of cybersecurity compliance service provider CyberSheath.
“So we really need a framework to deal with this. Otherwise, we will be playing Whack-A-Mole till the end of time.”
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