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. Zhang Nan Resigns as CEO of Douyin Group to Focus on ByteDance’s CapCut
Zhang Nan, CEO of Douyin Group, officially announced her resignation as Group CEO on WeChat on 7th February to focus on the development of the Bytedance product CapCut in the future.
Liang Rubo, CEO of ByteDance, expressed his gratitude for Zhang Nan’s contributions and breakthroughs in leading China’s information platform business. It is reported that Zhang Nan will continue to report to Liang Rubo. Zhang Nan, who has a start-up background, once developed a photo community app. Her company was later acquired by ByteDance, and she officially joined ByteDance with her team in 2014. She was one of the founding elders of Douyin and drove Douyin’s development “from 0 to 1”. In 2020, Zhang Nan became Douyin’s first female CEO, fully responsible for Douyin, Volcano, market brands, and other businesses.
2. US Lawmakers Push To Put Tiktok-Parent Bytedance On Export Control List
A group of 15 US lawmakers has urged the Commerce Department to add TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to a government export control list to restrict its access to American software.
The lawmakers, led by Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw and Democrat Josh Gottheimer, in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo urged that ByteDance be added to what is known as the “Entity List” to address critical vulnerabilities created by the company’s access to US software. The request comes after efforts have stalled in Congress to ban TikTok or give the Biden administration new powers to restrict the short-video-sharing app, which is used by more than 170 million Americans.
3. Biden Campaign Joins TikTok, Despite US Security Concerns With App
The campaign team of US President Biden collaborated with the short video application TikTok to create a new account before this year’s November presidential election. They aim to attract support from young voters by leveraging the momentum of the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), commonly known as the Super Bowl.
Biden’s team’s move on the TikTok platform has attracted special attention due to the scrutiny launched by the United States on TikTok,, citing so-called “national security concerns,” and continuous pressure from some American politicians to ban the app.
4. Digital Red Packets Drive Record Online Transactions on Chinese New Year’s Eve
High-frequency monitoring data from the People’s Bank of China shows that this year on Chinese New Year’s Eve, as the clock struck midnight, the peak of online payment transactions processed by NetsUnion Clearing Corporation and China UnionPay reached a record high. The highest concurrent transactions were 109,000 per second, an increase of 4.61% compared to last year, setting a new historical record for the same period.
Many transactions occurred in the form of “digital red packets”, monetary gifts given during holidays, or special occasions according to Chinese traditions. On February 10th, according to the “WeChat Pay” official account, users grabbed 5.08 billion WeChat red packets on New Year’s Eve and sent “New Year’s special red packets” 190 million times.
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 the January report, click here.