ByteDance quietly built a ‘sister of TikTok’ application, which has attracted 17 million downloads but is still at risk of being ‘evicted’ from the US

Chinese tech giant ByteDance is promoting another social media app in the US, just as top short video app TikTok faces a harsh ban. This is part of ByteDance’s business strategy, but according to experts, a new product to replace TikTok is not necessarily a good solution.

“It looks like ByteDance is promoting Lemon8 as a potential alternative to TikTok,” said Lindsay Gorman, senior fellow for emerging technologies at the German Marshall Fund.

In March, ByteDance invited content creators to use the “new Lemon8 platform” ahead of its official launch in the US, citing the success of “sister company TikTok”.

It is known that Lemon8 was first launched in Japan in 2020. The lifestyle application focusing on health, beauty and beauty has quickly climbed to the top of the charts in the US. Specifically, according to analytics firm data.ai, Lemon8 jumped 693 places and became the second most downloaded lifestyle app in the US in just 30 days. Lemon8 also amassed 17 million downloads globally since launch, according to Apptopia.

“Some of the algorithms used in Lemon8 are similar or completely similar to the recommendation algorithms in TikTok, which of course will make both of those apps extremely popular as they give you the best of both worlds. what you want to see,” said Glenn Gerstell, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The rise of Lemon8 shows how difficult it is to completely remove the current influence of Chinese companies. TikTok paved the way for this trend, as online retailers from Temu to Shein rose to the top of the AppStore.

“We’re seeing TikTok appear in a lot of apps,” said Mark Shmulik, an analyst at Bernstein.

For Lemon8, ByteDance is working hard to attract creative users. This giant is paying content creators to post on the app, even hiring a whole group of creators in New York to serve the need to scale.

“This is a huge business for ByteDance,” David Glancy, a professor at the Institute of World Politics, told Insider.

According to experts, promoting Lemon8 actively can be seen as a “competitive move” by ByteDance as it tries to expand the market and reach different consumer segments.

“It’s definitely a business strategy. It is not wrong that there are more and more competing products around the world,” says Gerstell.

However, Lemon8’s links to ByteDance and TikTok will make the app likely to be on the radar of regulators, especially as it continues to gain popularity.

“If Lemon8 were removed from the US, it would still have millions of users around the world,” said Gerstell, adding that Lemon8 has been successful in Japan. “In terms of business strategy, I don’t see many downsides.”

According to Gorman and Gerstell, Lemon8 could also serve as an alternative for content creators if TikTok is banned in the US. “In fact, we are pushing marketing specifically for Lemon8 to move creators to the platform if TikTok gets banned,” says Gorman, although he admits it is “easier said than done” because Migrating 150 million TikTok users in the US to Lemon8 is no easy feat.

Some experts argue that creating another app to replace TikTok is not a quick fix for ByteDance as these apps will continue to be scrutinized by the US. “It can be a backup in case TikTok is affected, but I don’t appreciate it,” one expert said.

As Lemon8 continues to become more popular, the US regulator will likely come up with a comprehensive framework to control the risks of Chinese internet applications, and address them before they get out of hand.

“We really need a framework to deal with this,” said Eric Noonan, CEO of cybersecurity compliance provider CyberSheath.

It is known that the US is considering the Restriction Act to ban TikTok and social media applications that pose many national security risks. It is unclear whether the Restriction Act, if passed, will affect Temu or Shein as both apps are owned by corporations with deep ties to China.

By: CNBC, BI