China Digital Digest Weekly: Exploring the Chinese Digital Landscape
- ClickInsights
- 18 hours ago
- 3 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. Meituan Warns of US$3.5 Billion Loss Amid Intense Food Delivery Price War
China’s food delivery giant Meituan has warned that it expected to post a loss of up to 24.3 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion) for 2025 due to “intense industry competition”, with the slump likely to persist this year.
The sharp reversal from 2024, when the company posted a profit of 35.8 billion yuan, comes on the back of one of China’s most intense price wars last year between Meituan, Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com in local e-commerce and food delivery, which only subsided after regulators stepped in. In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, Meituan said expected losses for 2025 would be between 23.3 billion yuan and 24.3 billion yuan.
2. China Calls On Delivery, Ride-Hailing Firms to Respect Gig-Worker Rights
The Chinese government has summoned Meituan, Alibaba Group Holding, Didi Chuxing, SF Express and other logistics firms to ensure the welfare of the tens of millions of gig workers who keep the country running during the rush.
The “employment administrative guidance” session, held recently by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, in coordination with six other government agencies, called on 16 major Chinese platform and logistics operators to continuously improve labour management and effectively safeguard the rights and interests of the gig workers, according to a ministry statement. The number of gig workers in China, including delivery riders, couriers and live-streamers, has surpassed 200 million, and the rights of these workers are seen as essential to social stability.
3. Alibaba’s Qwen App Reaches 73.5 Million Daily Active Users Over Lunar New Year
Alibaba’s AI assistant app Qwen recorded a sharp surge in usage over the Lunar New Year holiday. According to QuestMobile’s holiday traffic data, its daily active users (DAU) climbed to 73.52 million as of February 7.
The milestone brings Qwen close to the market leader at 78.71 million DAU, while extending its lead over the third-ranked competitor by nearly four times. Over the same stretch, Qwen also topped the Apple App Store China free app rankings for six consecutive days, outperforming major platforms such as Douyin and WeChat.
4. ByteDance’s CapCut Launches Seedream 5.0
CapCut, ByteDance’s video editing platform, has announced the launch of its next-generation image generation model, Seedream 5.0-Preview, just over two months after releasing Seedream 4.5.
Like Seedance 2.0, Seedream 5.0 is available through ByteDance’s AI creation platform Dreamina. It has also been integrated into CapCut, its international version CapCut Global, and ByteDance’s AI creative platform Xiaoyunque. The model is currently in limited beta testing on Dreamina, with image generation available for free during a promotional period. All users can access the model up to 20 times per day at no cost.
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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