ByteDance Launches Lifestyle App
Ranks 2nd in Download Charts
Experts Say "Possible Alternative to TikTok Regulations"
ByteDance, the parent company of the video service platform TikTok, has launched a new social media (SNS) called 'Lemon8' in the United States, gaining popularity. However, analysts predict that ByteDance's entry into the U.S. market will be blocked again as long as the U.S. government continues to pressure Chinese platform markets.
On the 25th, U.S. economic media CNBC reported that Lemon8, launched by ByteDance last month, ranked second among the most downloaded apps in the lifestyle category within just one month of service launch.
CNBC stated that Lemon8 is an app that seems to combine Instagram and the image-sharing platform Pinterest, focusing on health, wellness, and beauty. Lemon8, which ranked 695th in downloads in the lifestyle category on its launch day, gained great popularity and surpassed 693 apps within 30 days of launch. Lemon8 was first launched in Japan in early 2020 and has been downloaded 17 million times worldwide to date.
ByteDance appears to have launched Lemon8 as an alternative to the U.S. campaign to remove TikTok. The U.S. has been continuously pressuring to remove TikTok from the market, citing national security threats.
On the 7th of last month, the U.S. Senate introduced a bill (Information and Communications Technology Risk Control Act) that would allow banning foreign information technology posing security threats. The bill focuses on granting the U.S. government discretionary power to identify risks embedded in services and technologies of companies connected to adversarial countries such as China and Russia and to impose sanctions. If this bill takes effect, it is widely expected that TikTok will be forced out of the U.S. market.
ByteDance has been trying to persuade the U.S. administration through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a U.S. interagency body, for two years to prevent market expulsion but has failed to achieve meaningful results. U.S. authorities have not backed down, demanding ByteDance forcibly sell TikTok’s U.S. business and divest shareholder stakes.
Lindsey Gorman, senior fellow for new technology at the Marshall Fund, a German private think tank, explained, "As ByteDance ultimately faces TikTok’s removal, it is trying to move users to another platform," adding, "It seems they want to make Lemon8 a potential alternative to TikTok."
On March 23 (local time), Zhou Shouzi, CEO of ByteDance, who appeared at the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, is waiting for his turn to speak. [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]
However, experts pointed out that Lemon8 is not a fundamental solution to overcome difficulties in the U.S. market. It is clear that apps launched by Chinese companies will be subject to thorough investigations by the U.S. government as long as tensions between the U.S. and China continue.
Glenn Gerstell, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said, "In a situation where tensions between the U.S. and China have not eased, ByteDance creating another app to replace TikTok is not a solution," adding, "Lemon8 might temporarily compensate if something happens to TikTok, but the U.S. will continue to investigate Chinese apps."
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