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Tencent vs. Bytedance: top dog and home advantage

Bytedance is growing into a furious opponent of tech giant Tencent. Late last week, the parent company of the short video app TikTok as well as its Chinese version of Tiktok, Douyin, posted a 59-page list of Bytedance product blocking actions on Tencent’s universal platform WeChat and its chat service QQ over the past three years. “More than 49 million people were stopped from sharing Douyin content to WeChat and QQ every day on average,” Bytedance complains. Video apps Huoshan and Xigua were also affected – while similar but Tencent-backed apps Kuaishou and Weishi could link to WeChat just fine. Bytedance has since deleted the post, but Chinese media had previously saved it. According to tech magazine Technode, Bytedance had written the post in anger over a comment by a top Tencent executive comparing short videos like those on Douyin to pig feed.

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