ByteDance is trying to repeat the success of TikTok with Lemon8, its newest social media app, reviews CNBC. Appearing as a mix of Instagram and Pinterest, Lemon8 has shortly exploded in reputation, being the second most downloaded life-style app within the US during the last month, leaping 693 positions, in line with knowledge.ai. The app was first launched in Japan in 2020, and since its world launch on March 29 has been downloaded greater than 17 million occasions worldwide.
Regardless of this, issues stay concerning ByteDance’s method to privateness, and its ties to the Chinese language authorities. Regardless of its claims to not share non-public info, Chinese language legislation requires the corporate at hand over any knowledge, together with delicate info similar to geolocational knowledge and contacts, to the Chinese language authorities if requested. This regulation has seen the app banned on authorities telephones in numerous places such because the USA, UK, and EU.
Nevertheless, the USA is contemplating going additional and banning TikTok solely, with the state of Montana being the primary to institute a ban on the app on private units earlier this month, calling the app a nationwide safety threat and accusing it of encouraging harmful actions. On a nationwide scale, President Joe Biden has advised ByteDance that TikTok faces a federal ban until its Chinese language house owners promote its shares within the app.
When life offers you lemons, make Lemon8?
“It’s actually attention-grabbing timing. It looks as if ByteDance is pushing Lemon8 as a possible various to TikTok,” stated German Marshall Fund senior fellow of rising tech Lindsay Gorman.
“You could possibly see this because the aggressive transfer of an organization that’s making an attempt to develop into completely different shopper markets and segments with extra image-based and longer-form written content material versus solely short-form movies.”
No matter ByteDance’s hopes for Lemon8, the actual fact stays that the identical points which have plagued Tiktok will doubtless proceed. The troublesome laws which requires the corporate to share info with the Chinese language Communist Celebration stays in place, and ByteDance might face related questions concerning the safety of consumer knowledge.
Earlier this month, TikTok was fined £12.7 million by the UK’s Data Commissioner’s Workplace for the misuse of kids’s knowledge.
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