ByteDance

All news and posts of our editorial team on the topic

USA demands splitting off international TikTok
The US government has demanded that the Chinese technology group ByteDance sell its shares of the short video app TikTok. The aim is to split off the US version of TikTok from its Chinese parent. Otherwise, it could face a ban in the USA, Reuters reported.Due to the close ties TikTok and its parent ByteDance […] continue reading →
TikTok CEO campaigns for trust in Brussels
Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Chew has met high-ranking EU officials and campaigned for more trust in the company. The talks between the TikTok CEO and EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in Brussels included detailed plans on how the Chinese video app is preparing for new liability and security rules for digital platforms (the so-called Digital […] continue reading →
TikTok fears for its reputation
TikTok collects user data it does not need, censors content Beijing does not like, and connects to servers in the People's Republic of China. Nevertheless, the company sticks to its claim of being completely independent of the Chinese parent company ByteDance. In order to credibly convey this, internal guidelines give PR employees an arsenal of standard statements. continue reading →
US authority: TikTok should be removed from app stores
A high-ranking representative of a US authority has urged Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their respective app stores. Brendan Carr, Commissioner of the FCC, the agency responsible for communications, has sent a letter to the companies pointing out that TikTok would violate data security regulations.The application does not comply with the app store […] continue reading →
Soccer World Cup 2022 live on TikTok
The video app Douyin (also known as TikTok in the West) will broadcast the 2022 World Cup live in China. Its parent company ByteDance was chosen as a partner by the China Media Group, which owns the state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), among others, as business portal Caixin reported. The China Media Group wants […] continue reading →
Tech employees publicly protest overtime
Employees of Chinese tech companies and freelance programmers are rallying on the Internet against excessive overtime in the industry. The “Worker Lives Matter” campaign calls on tech employees and others to publicly record their working hours. A spreadsheet on the platform GitHub received a lot of attention on Thursday and was shared on social media. […] continue reading →
Douyin limits usage time for teens
Douyin, the Chinese version of the short video app TikTok, is restricting the time children under 14 are allowed to use the app. In the future, the time should only be 40 minutes per day. Between 10 PM and 6 AM., young people will then no longer be able to access Douyin at all. Douyin […] continue reading →
Government acquires stake in TikTok
China has bought into ByteDance, the publisher of the video app TikTok – with now presumably far-reaching veto power. The debate over the influence of the Chinese leadership over the popular app is now likely to flare up again. continue reading →
Report: ByteDance pursues plans for IPO
The Financial Times (FT) reports on ByteDance’s plans for an IPO by the end of this year or early 2022. According to the three sources referred by FT, the company is currently filing the necessary documents with the Chinese authorities and is planning an IPO in Hong Kong. ByteDance did not initially comment on the […] continue reading →
Digital education: dark shadows over a lamp
Tech company Bytedance is entering the digital education sector with the introduction of a surveillance camera built into a lamp. Parents should be able to keep an eye on their offspring from a distance while they do their homework. The driving force behind the favorable sales figures is the guilty conscience of parents who are trying to reconcile work and family. But the lamp with a built-in screen and tutoring function casts a grim shadow on the future of learning. continue reading →
Tencent vs. Bytedance: top dog and home advantage
The tone in China's fiercely competitive technology sector is getting rougher. The struggle for dominance and pluralism in the Chinese network world is shifting to the corporate level – the conflicts between Bytedance and the Internet giant Tencent are an exemplary lesson in the distribution battles. continue reading →
Zhang Yiming
It is fair to say that Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming is not a particularly talented manager. That may sound silly because, within nine years, he has created a digital platform with his Chinese start-up that has kept its customers worldwide glued to their screens longer than Facebook, Instagram, and the like. But Zhang made this […] continue reading →
Competition violations: Beijing warns 34 platform companies
On Tuesday, Beijing warned 34 internet platform companies against continuing to engage in prohibited practices that restrict competition. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) met with the companies, including Tencent, ByteDance, and JD.com, and ordered them to conduct internal inspections within a month. Practices such as excluding merchants who also offer their goods on […] continue reading →