ZCZC
BCN-21
CHINA-US-TECHNOLOGY-INTERNET-TIKTOK,PROFILE
Bytedance: The Chinese company behind global TikTok craze
BEIJING, Nov 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The Chinese billionaire behind teen
phenomenon TikTok is a 36-year-old tech guru whose eye for youth trends and
pioneering use of AI has blasted the app to global success — while working
hand-in-glove with censors to control content within China.
Zhang Yiming’s Beijing-based startup Bytedance owns TikTok, whose
kaleidoscopic feeds of 15 to 60-second clips feature everything from hair-dye
tutorials to dance routines and jokes about daily life.
Since launching in 2017, TikTok has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion
times, according to US-based research agency Sensor Tower. It has huge
followings in India, the US, Indonesia and elsewhere.
But its rise has raised security fears and last month two senior US
senators called for a government review of the app, saying it could leave
users vulnerable to spying by Beijing.
Bytedance, which Zhang founded in 2012, prides itself on using artificial
intelligence to personalise newsfeeds according to users’ interests.
The company has had “huge and immediate success” because it pays close
attention to its young users, said Bo Ji, assistant dean for the Cheung Kong
Graduate School of Business.
“The new generation… want to share their real feelings, whether good or
bad. They are more direct and expressive,” he said.
TikTok is Bytedance’s most popular overseas app, while its other products
in China and abroad include news aggregators and productivity tools.
Together they have taken Zhang — a programmer before he became a
businessman — to the highest echelons of China’s billionaire club.
In 2019, he was listed in the top 20 of the Hurun China Rich List with
$13.5 billion in wealth, surpassing more established tech tycoons, such as
the founder of search giant Baidu.
Zhang’s fortunes were given a huge boost with Bytedance’s 2017 acquisition
of lip-syncing video app Musical.ly — later merged with TikTok — in a deal
reportedly worth as much as $1 billion.
“Mr Zhang is unusual Chinese entrepreneur,” said Bo.
“He built something for the world; he understands the young people and
their psychology.”
MORE/HR/1050
ZCZC
BCN-22
CHINA-US-TECHNOLOGY-INTERNET-TIKTOK,PROFILE 2 BEIJING
– Disruptive technology –
Liu Xingliang, dean of the DCCI research centre, told AFP that Zhang
represents a new wave of entrepreneurs and a different breed to China’s most
famous tycoon, Alibaba’s Jack Ma.
He is “more like a young Pony Ma,” Liu said, comparing Zhang to the 48-
year-old co-founder of Chinese internet giant Tencent.
This is because Zhang “used to be a programmer, paid more attention to
products, and knew technology well”, he said.
Bytedance also operates a Chinese version of TikTok, called Douyin. It is
the top short video app in China, with over 400 million monthly active users,
according to iResearch.
Douyin, launched in 2016, attracted users by bringing on board top
celebrities like Chinese actor and singer Kris Wu.
But Bytedance’s first flagship product was the immensely popular Chinese
news aggregation app Jinri Toutiao, or “today’s headlines”.
“(Toutiao) has changed Chinese reading habits… they will know what you
like to watch, and you will have the things you like to see recommended to
you,’ said Liu.
Aside from TikTok, Bytedance also runs TopBuzz in the US, an English-
language news aggregation app that the company was reportedly trying to sell
in September.
In 2016 it became a controlling stakeholder of BaBe, an Indonesian news
app with more than 30 million downloads since its launch in October 2013.
Productivity app and Slack-competitor Lark is Bytedance’s latest product,
which features cloud storage, chat and calendar functions.
And according to recent reports, the company is also planning to launch
its own music streaming service to compete with subscription models like
Spotify and Apple.
MORE/HR/1052
ZCZC
BCN-23
CHINA-US-TECHNOLOGY-INTERNET-TIKTOK,PROFILE 2 BEIJING
– Chinese censorship –
In mainland China Bytedance employs thousands of censors to scrub out
inappropriate content in its domestic platforms — at a significant cost to
the company.
It reportedly hired 2,000 censors in January 2018 after Beijing accused
its news aggregation app of “spreading pornographic and vulgar information”.
It then promised to increase its internal censorship staff to 10,000 after
being temporarily banned by the government in a widening content crackdown.
Censorship is common in China where the internet is tightly controlled.
But going global has brought its own censorship challenges for TikTok,
which is blocked in Bangladesh and was briefly banned by an Indian court over
claims it was promoting pornography among children.
It was also hit with an enormous fine in the US for illegally collecting
information from children.
One TikTok video that went viral this week contained criticism — hidden
within a clip that appeared to offer tips on eyelash curling — of China’s
mass detention of Muslims in its Xinjiang region.
A Twitter account apparently belonging to the same teenager who posted the
video said she had been suspended “for trying to spread awareness” — a claim
disputed by the app. The video was readily available on TikTok Wednesday.
TikTok has sought to distance itself from China, saying in October that it
is “not influenced by any foreign government, including the Chinese
government.”
But US senators have warned in a letter that TikTok’s owner ByteDance
could be forced to share user information with Chinese intelligence, and
could also be used to influence upcoming US elections.
BSS/AFP/HR/1055