TikTok pushes users to sister app Lemon8 ahead of potential ban
As the TikTok ban could take effect at the end of the week, another ByteDance-owned app has climbed the rankings in the Apple App Store: Lemon8.
As the TikTok ban could take effect at the end of the week, short of Supreme Court intervention, another ByteDance-owned app has climbed the rankings in the Apple App Store: Lemon8.
The app, which is No. 2 in the App Store, appears to be an amalgamation of several other popular social media platforms. It has photos that can be uploaded as a single image or a carousel of photos, like Instagram; videos that appeal to users’ specific sensibilities and interests, like TikTok; and an interface that allows users to interact with different types of content at once, like Pinterest.
“If those three apps came together and had a baby, it would be Lemon8,” said Jessica Maddox, an associate professor of digital media technology at the University of Alabama.
The law only mentions TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, by name. However, it also says any of ByteDance’s subsidiaries could be banned under the same law. That means a ban could be extended to Lemon8, but as of Monday, neither the company nor the U.S. government had addressed its future.
On TikTok, advertisements for Lemon8 appear to have ramped up leading up to the ban. TikTok has used traditional advertisements on its platform urging users to download it. TikTok has also sent notifications to its users suggesting they download Lemon8.
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