Chinese short-video giant Kuaishou made a splashy IPO in Hong Kong, reaching a valuation close to its larger competitor, Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Will Douyin’s parent company, ByteDance, follow and also list its short-video product in Hong Kong?
China’s second most famous video app after TikTok / Douyin might have to take down music or pay hefty copyright fees ahead of its planned listing.
While Douyin and its international subsidiary, TikTok, get most of the headlines, China's short-form video app universe is more competitive than most people in the West realize. Here's the low-down from Ping Pong Digital, the authorities on China's digital ecosystem.
For something that’s supposed to be a normal and natural part of life, breastfeeding can be a surprisingly contentious topic in China. New moms are expected to feed their infants discreetly, while some people are offended just by the sight of breast pump bags.
Almost overnight, a five-second video posted by the visually impaired man thrust him to the forefront of a national conversation, as well as the receiving end of a barrage of abusive insults.
As part of China’s national campaign to curb food waste, people are now forbidden to share videos of themselves consuming absurd amounts of food on social media. But some pet owners have taken advantage of the situation to popularize a disturbing genre of viral videos: animals overeating.
On the same day that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his company by saying it is “proudly American,” and that it competes against China’s “version of the internet,” TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer slammed Facebook for copycat products and for attacks that are “disguised as patriotism.”
After the news broke that a man in Hangzhou murdered and dismembered his wife, Douyin, Chinese version of Tiktok, is now taking action against insensitive remarks and memes about the killing, drawing boundaries for what it calls “malicious memeification.”
Could the collapse of TikTok in the American market come even faster than its meteoric rise? Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and now President Trump have said the U.S. government is “looking at” banning the app because of its Chinese ownership.