China Digital Digest Weekly: Exploring the Chinese Digital Landscape
- ClickInsights
- 14 hours ago
- 4 min read
Hi folks, we are back with our weekly edition of China’s Digital Digest, wherein we bring you weekly updates on China’s digital space. The report takes a quick glance at China’s complex and rapidly evolving social media landscape by providing updates on the latest happenings across the social media industry. Here are the major highlights of the report.
1. Tencent’s Second-Quarter Earnings Beat Forecasts, Bolstered by AI
Tencent Holdings’ second-quarter earnings beat analysts’ forecasts, as revenue from artificial intelligence (AI) boosted the bottom line of the world’s largest video games publisher and operator of the Chinese super app WeChat.
Net profit rose 16 percent to 56 billion yuan (US$7.81 billion) in the three months that ended in June, according to global accounting standards. Sales increased for the 11th quarter, jumping 15 percent to 184.5 billion yuan and beating the consensus estimate of 19 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
2. Trump White House Debuts TikTok Account Before Possible Ban
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/voice-trump-relaunches-tiktok-white-house-account/story?id=124811724
The White House has launched an official TikTok account, taking advantage of the short video app’s more than 170 million US users to spread the messages of President Donald Trump.
Trump has a soft spot for the popular app, crediting it with helping him gain support among young voters when he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the November 2024 presidential election. The White House’s official account comes as a new deadline approaches for its parent company ByteDance to divest from its US operations or face a nationwide blackout in the country.
3. Apple Joins China’s RedNote Platform Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Apple has joined the popular Chinese social platform RedNote, known as China’s answer to Instagram, in the US tech giant’s latest bid to strengthen its brand presence in the competitive mainland market ahead of the launch of the iPhone 17.
After publishing its first post, the verified Apple account has amassed more than 200,000 followers on RedNote, a site known for its young, tech-savvy and trend-conscious user base. Earlier this year RedNote gained worldwide fame, especially in the United States, after many TikTok users signed up for the app in a form of protest against a then-looming ban on TikTok. The ban, which was supposed to take effect on January 19, has been extended three times by US President Donald Trump, as Washington, Beijing, and owner ByteDance work on a deal to divest its American operations.
4. Apple Eyes Douyin Pay For China App Store While Speculation Swirls on New iPhone
Apple has started testing Douyin Pay as a new mobile payment service on its China App Store, according to mainland media reports, while purportedly leaked images of the iPhone 17 stirred up discussion on Chinese social media.
Once tests are completed, Douyin Pay is expected to serve as the fourth payment platform on the mainland App Store, after Ant Group’s Alipay, Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay and state-run China UnionPay, according to reports on Tuesday by online local media IThome and MyDrivers. Launched in January 2021, Douyin Pay is a service under ByteDance-owned domestic short video platform Douyin, the Chinese sibling of TikTok.
5. Meitu’s H1 2025 Earnings Soar 71% as AI-Powered Apps Drive Global Growth
Chinese selfie-app maker Meitu Inc. reported a strong first half of 2025, driven by its AI-powered products and expanding global user base.
In its interim results released Aug 18, Meitu said H1 revenue rose to RMB 1.8 billion (up 12.3% YoY) and adjusted net profit jumped to RMB 467 million (up 71.3% YoY) . This marked a new high in profitability for the company, as breakthroughs in its AI-enabled imaging business and a surge in paid subscribers boosted margins. The core photo/video/design products segment saw especially strong growth: revenue from imaging and design apps hit RMB 1.35 billion (up 45.2% YoY), now accounting for roughly 74% of Meitu’s sales .
6. Alibaba Beats Meituan’s Delivery Market Share, Fuelled by Subsidies
Alibaba Group Holding’s daily delivery volume briefly overtook rival Meituan after it rolled out a free drinks promotion on its on-demand service, amid intensifying competition in the instant commerce sector, according to tech media outlet LatePost.
Orders on Alibaba’s Taobao Shangou platform reached over 100 million—just 20 million short of Meituan’s tally. Once Meituan ended its promotion, Taobao’s order volume surpassed its competitor, LatePost reported, though it did not disclose the source of the information.
7. Alibaba, Ant Combine Forces to Take on Meituan in Instant Commerce Market
Alibaba Group Holding and its fintech affiliate Ant Group, both co-founded by Jack Ma, have joined forces to create an army of delivery service workers to defeat Meituan in the instant commerce market.
A total of 22 businesses operated by Alibaba and Ant, including domestic online marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, Ant’s Alipay payment service and Alibaba Cloud, have pledged to improve the conditions of millions of delivery riders. Alibaba’s move to pool resources from different units – which also include food delivery service Ele.me, fresh food store Freshippo and online travel booking site Fliggy – is being promoted as a public welfare campaign, but it marks the first time since 2020 that all of the group’s key brands are on the same page.
8. US Tariffs a Big Worry for Chinese Sellers on Shein, Temu, and TikTok Shop
A number of Chinese cross-border exporters expect the Trump administration’s erratic trade policy to continue testing their stamina and resilience, days after the tariff truce between Beijing and Washington was extended for another 90 days.
Those concerns were raised on the sidelines at the opening of the semi-annual China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province. With booths at the fair, major online retail platforms – including Shein, PDD Holdings-owned Temu, ByteDance-run TikTok Shop and American e-commerce giant Amazon.com – sought to woo more exporters to open online shops on their sites, which target the US and other overseas markets.
Wrapping Up
The vast and diverse nature of the Chinese Social Media space makes it incredibly challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments taking place. However, China’s Digital Digest brings you all the latest updates from there to keep you abreast of all the evolving trends.
To delve deeper into the findings of our latest report, click here.
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