ByteDance

Last updated

ByteDance
Native name
字节跳动有限公司
Company type Private
Industry Internet
Founded13 March 2012;12 years ago (2012-03-13)
Founders
Headquarters
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Zhang Yiming (Founder & Chairman)
  • Liang Rubo (Founder & CEO)
  • Erich Andersen (global GC) [2]
  • Kelly Zhang (CEO of ByteDance China) [3]
  • Lidong Zhang (Chairman of ByteDance China) [3]
  • Shou Zi Chew (CEO of TikTok)
Products
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$85.2 billion (2022) [4]
Increase2.svg US$2 billion (2022) [4]
Number of employees
c.150,000 (2023) [5]
Subsidiaries
ASNs 396986, 138699 OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website bytedance.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

First released to the public in September 2016, Douyin (Chinese :抖音; pinyin :Dǒuyīn), previously named A.me, is the Chinese version of TikTok. The application is a short-form video social media platform that differs from its international counterpart version by having more advanced features, such as e-commerce. [69] TikTok and Douyin have almost the same user interface but no access to each other's content. Their servers are each based in the market where the respective app is available. [70]

Lark

First released to the public in 2019, Lark is ByteDance's enterprise collaboration platform. [71] Lark was originally developed as an internal tool, becoming ByteDance's primary internal communication and collaboration platform, but was eventually made available to external users in certain markets. [72]

TikTok

First released to the public in September 2017, TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service [73] used to make short-form videos, from genres like dance, comedy, and education. [74] [75] On 9 November 2017, ByteDance acquired Shanghai-based social media start-up Musical.ly for up to US$1 billion. They combined it and prior acquisition Flipagram [76] [77] into TikTok on 2 August 2018, keeping the TikTok name.

TikTok Music

Formerly known as Resso, TikTok Music launched in Indonesia and Brazil in July 2023. [78] On October 19, 2023, TikTok Music premiered in Mexico, Singapore and Australia. [79]

The platform allows users to highlight and share lyrics, comments and other user-generated content with each other alongside streaming of full-length tracks. [80] ByteDance says that it has licensing agreements in place with Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Merlin Network and Beggars Group, among others. [81] Resso will be shut down in India in January 2024, due to "local market conditions". [82] [83]

Toutiao

Toutiao (Chinese :今日头条; pinyin :Jīnrì Tóutiáo), launched in August 2012, [14] started out as a news recommendation engine and gradually evolved into a platform delivering content in various formats, such as texts, images, question-and-answer posts, microblogs, and videos. [84] [85]

In January 2014, the company created the "Toutiaohao" (头条号) platform to attract more content creators. Later in the year, it added video capabilities. Toutiao used interest-based and decentralized distribution to help long tail content creators find an audience. [86]

In 2017, Toutiao acquired Flipagram. ByteDance would later expand Toutiao's features to include: a missing person alerts project whose alerts have helped find 13,116 missing persons as of June 2020; [87] short-form video platform Toutiao Video, later rebranded as Xigua Video (西瓜视频, also known as Watermelon Video), which hosts video clips that are on average 2–5 minutes long; [88] and Toutiao Search, a search engine. [89]

Xigua Video

Initially launched as Toutiao Video in 2016, Xigua Video (Chinese :西瓜视频; pinyin :Xīguā shìpín) is an online video-sharing platform that features user-created short and mid-length videos and also produces film and television content. [90]

Nuverse

Initially launched in 2019, Nuverse has launched as a video game publisher company. [91] The first game launched outside mainland China was Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade in 2021. Later in 2021, Moonton became a subsidiary of Nuverse, after winning the bid, initially set by Tencent. [92] [93]

In 2022, the studio has launched Marvel Snap in October worldwide, after closed alpha testing in the Philippines, and gradually entering open beta with the first country being New Zealand. In November 2023, Reuters reported ByteDance was restructuring Nuverse and retreating from gaming. [94]

Other products and acquisitions

Censorship, surveillance, and data privacy concerns

ByteDance has garnered attention over surveillance, [103] [104] data privacy, [105] and censorship concerns, [106] [107] including content pertaining to human rights in Tibet and the persecution of Uyghurs in China. [note 1] Concern has also been raised over the potential effects, including extraterritorial jurisdiction, of China's National Intelligence Law and Cybersecurity Law on ByteDance and its employees. [113] [49] :42–43

Government regulation

China

In April 2018, China's state media regulator, the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), ordered the temporary removal of Toutiao and Neihan Duanzi from Chinese app stores. The NRTA accused Neihan Duanzi in particular of hosting "vulgar" and "improper" content and "triggering strong sentiments of resentment among internet users". [114] The following day, Neihan Duanzi announced it was permanently shutting down. [114] In response to the shutdown, Yiming issued a letter stating that the app was "incommensurate with socialist core values" and promised that ByteDance would "further deepen cooperation" with the authorities to promote their policies. [115] [116] Following the shutdown, ByteDance announced that it would give preference to Chinese Communist Party members in its hiring and increase its censors from 6,000 to 10,000 employees. [117] [118] [119]

As of 2019, ByteDance's Beijing headquarters has maintained an office where cybersecurity police are stationed so that illegal content can be instantly reported. [120] [121] In November 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) ordered ByteDance to remove "slanderous" information on Fang Zhimin from Toutiao. [122] In April 2020, the CAC ordered ByteDance to take down its office collaboration tool, Lark, because it could be used to circumvent Internet censorship. [123] In January 2021, Chinese regulators fined ByteDance for spreading "vulgar information." [124] [125] In April 2021, ByteDance was among 13 online platforms ordered by the People's Bank of China to adhere to tighter data and financial regulations. [126] The bank stated that ByteDance must conduct comprehensive self-examination and rectification to adhere to the country's laws. [127] In May 2021, the CAC stated that ByteDance had engaged in illegal data collection and misuse of personal information. [128]

In March 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation fined a ByteDance subsidiary and other companies for antitrust violations. [57]

In April 2022, ByteDance announced that it would report users' content on Toutiao and Douyin that engaged in "historical nihilism" in contradiction of official CCP history. [129]

In November 2022, during the 2022 COVID-19 protests in China, the CAC directed ByteDance to intensify its censorship of the protests. [130]

In November 2023, Forbes reported that ByteDance's internal workplace tool called Feishu, which contains "product network security, data security, personal information, and daily operations," was accessed by the CAC and other Chinese government authorities in the run-up to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. [120]

India

Citing national security issues the Indian Government banned CapCut and TikTok along with 58 other Chinese apps on 29 June 2020. [131] The ban was made permanent in January 2021. [132] [68] In March 2021, the Indian government froze ByteDance's bank accounts in the country for alleged tax evasion, which ByteDance disputed. [133]

Ireland

In 2023, ByteDance was scrutinized by the Central Bank of Ireland for deficiencies in its anti-money laundering controls of its payment division. [134]

Taiwan

In December 2022, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council announced an investigation into ByteDance on suspicion of operating an illegal subsidiary in the country. [135] The company reportedly registered "Tiktoktaiwan Co Ltd" in March, which changed its name to "ByteDance Taiwan" in November. [136]

Turkey

In 2022, Turkey's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) initiated a probe into ByteDance in relation to millions of dollars in fund transfers involving TikTok accounts that were suspected of money laundering or terrorism financing. [134]

United States

In 2019, ByteDance's subsidiary TikTok was fined by the Federal Trade Commission (FCC) for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. [137] [138] In response, ByteDance added a kids-only mode to TikTok which blocks the upload of videos, the building of user profiles, direct messaging, and commenting on other's videos, while still allowing the viewing and recording of content. [139]

TikTok and ByteDance have come under US lawmaker scrutiny due to fears of surveillance by the Chinese government. [140] U.S. President Donald Trump wanted TikTok to be sold or be banned from app stores in the country. His executive orders were later blocked by the courts and revoked by his successor Joe Biden. [141] [142] [143] [144] On 28 August 2020, China announced an update to its export control rules that, according to experts, could give Chinese authorities a say in any potential sale of ByteDance's technology to foreign firms. [145]

In March 2023, the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation after ByteDance employees tracked journalists to find internal leaks. [7] In response, ByteDance fired four employees. [146] [147] [148]

In March 2024 the House of Representatives passed a bill which, if passed through the Senate and signed by the President, forces ByteDance to divest TikTok or have the platform banned. [149]

Notes

  1. See references [108] [109] [110] [111] [112]

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