bytedance
Latest
TikTok's owner may be readying a streaming music service
No, TikTok's owner still isn't done dipping its toes into other categories. Financial Times sources claim ByteDance is planning an on-demand streaming music service with, as you might expect, a social media hook. The app would reportedly include a collection of short, searchable video clips you could sync to songs and share with your friends. It's also set to cost less than the $10 per month Spotify, Apple and others typically charge for their all-you-can-stream offerings.
TikTok will let you directly post videos made in other apps (updated)
One of the reasons that TikTok has enjoyed explosive growth is because the app makes it super easy to duet, share and save videos. Unlike other companies, ByteDance -- the owner of TikTok -- actively allows users to download popular creations and share them wider on messaging services and social media. In its bid to make it easier to get their content up on the platform in the first place, the company today announced new tools that lets creators upload videos directly from their favorite editing apps.
TikTok's parent company reportedly faces a national security review
Recently TikTok's popularity has exploded worldwide, and so has scrutiny over the app's parent company ByteDance and its relationship to the Chinese government. Now Reuters reports that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has opened a national security review of the company, because it had not sought approval to make its $1 billion acquisition of Musical.ly in 2017. US lawmakers have expressed concern's over the app's ability to collect data, while the company responded saying "TikTok is committed to being a trusted and responsible corporate citizen in the US, which includes working with Congress and all relevant regulatory agencies." The report notes that Musical.ly founder and now-head-of-TikTok Alex Zhu recently began to report directly to ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming, which could help separate it from the company's other holdings. Meanwhile, ByteDance just announced plans for its first smartphone.
TikTok-owner Bytedance reveals its first smartphone
The rumored smartphone by TikTok's owner ByteDance is now available. The Nut Jianguo Pro 3 is ByteDance's first smartphone. It's a continuation of work by the Chinese phone maker Smartisan (which partially explains the name), and it's being released under the Smartisan brand.
Senators want to know if TikTok is a national security risk
To most, TikTok is an innocent platform full of cute and/or funny videos. But to political leaders, it's a potential national security risk. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) have formally asked the Intelligence Community to assess whether TikTok and other China-owned content platforms pose a threat.
Marco Rubio calls for TikTok review over censorship claims
TikTok owner ByteDance might find itself in legal trouble in the US over claims it's censoring criticism of China in other parts of the world. Senator Marco Rubio has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asking for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review ByteDance's acquisition of Musical.ly in light of the censorship allegations. He argued there was "ample & growing evidence" TikTok was silencing US material to honor Chinese government policies, effectively letting it "suppress freedom of speech" beyond its borders.
TikTok reportedly censored videos critical of the Chinese government
Social media darling TikTok may have attempted to export some of China's censorship policies to the rest of the world. Documents obtained by The Guardian reportedly show policy guidelines that instruct moderators to take down content that makes mention of topics like the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
TikTok offers in-app purchasing of sponsored products
TikTok, the short-form video platform dominated by teens, is now moving steadily into sponsored content. TechCrunch reported today that the app will now let viewers buy products associated with sponsored hashtags without leaving the app. Called Hashtag Challenge Plus, the new feature allows companies who run influencer campaigns on TikTok to directly sell products to the app's users.
TikTok's parent company confirms plans for a smartphone
Yes, the company behind TikTok really is making a smartphone. ByteDance has confirmed that's producing a handset in a "continuation" of a project from Chinese phone maker Smartisan. Details of the phone itself are scarce, but ByteDance had obtained both patents and some staff from Smartisan before this. You'll see the outside influence in this design, then.
TikTok now faces a data privacy investigation in the UK, too
TikTok is under investigation in the UK for how it handles the safety and privacy of young users. UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that the popular short-form video app potentially violated GDPR rules that state that technology companies must have different rules and protections for children, reported The Guardian. The UK began its probe on TikTok back in February, shortly after the FTC fined the app for child privacy violations.
TikTok's creator is reportedly making a smartphone
TikTok's owner ByteDance may have grander ambitions than chat apps and streaming music -- Financial Times tipsters have claimed that the company is working on its own smartphone. The device would draw on acquired patents and talent from Chinese phone maker Smartisan, and would unsurprisingly come loaded with ByteDance apps. The rumor didn't include specs or a launch schedule, although founder Zhang Yiming had supposedly "long dreamt" of a phone, according to one source.
The company behind TikTok is reportedly launching a Spotify rival
ByteDance, the owner of the Vine-like social media app TikTok, might challenge Spotify with a paid streaming service in emerging markets, according to Bloomberg. It could introduce an app (not named after TikTok), in several non-first-world countries where Spotify, Apple Music and other music streaming services have yet to take hold. As for content, it has reportedly secured music rights from several of India's biggest labels, including Times Music and T-Series.
TikTok's owner launches chat app with a focus on communities
TikTok's owner, ByteDance, has jumped into the wide world of messaging apps. The company has released Flipchat (aka Feiliao), an "interest-based social app" for Android and iOS that combines the usual chats and video calls with a social network-style feed, chat groups and forums. While you can communicate like you would in other chat apps, the emphasis here is on participating in a community. If you're a fan of a movie, you can discuss it in a myriad of ways.
TikTok lets users add reaction videos to clips they watch
TikTok, which absorbed Musical.ly last month, is rolling out a new feature that will let users add their reactions to other videos. In the "Share" menu, there's now a "React" option, and when you select it, the app will record a video of you as you watch a clip. You'll then be able to move your reaction video around the screen to place it where you want. An app update with the new feature should be available in both the App Store and Google Play within the next couple of days, according to TechCrunch.
Musical.ly is officially dead
Musical.ly is shutting down for good. After amassing a sizeable user-base, the lip-sync app (the service had a few others as well) will scuttle users to TikTok, a Vine-like video app owned by Chinese internet firm Bytedance according to Variety. The publication says user accounts and videos will automatically move to the new app, so it should be a pretty seamless, if not abrupt, transition. And when you update Musical.ly for the last time, you'll automatically upgrade to TikTok.
Chinese firm nabs social video app Musical.ly for as much as $1 billion
The popular teen lip-syncing app Musical.ly has been purchased by Chinese firm Bytedance -- the company behind China's major news aggregating service Jinri Toutiao. The details of the deal haven't been disclosed but sources told the Wall Street Journal that the app sold for somewhere between $800 million and $1 billion.
