Google has removed the TikTok rival app Zynn from its Google’s Play Store following reports of plagiarism.
The Chinese app Zynn, that many have dubbed as a TikTok clone had been delisted from Google’s Play Store. The company had posted a statement on its Twitter and Instagram account stating that the app had been removed and that it was “in communications with Google and working to fix this ASAP.”
The app had been under the scanner following accusations of plagiarism with many major TikTok influencers stating that their videos had been uploaded on to the platform without their permission, the Wired reported. While other users stated that their accounts had been entirely cloned with some videos appearing on the platform even before the app had launched in the US.
The video-sharing app was launched on iOS and Android at the beginning of May and had garnered massive popularity. According to The Verge, the app became the most downloaded free app on the Apple Store by the end of May and had made it to the top ten apps on Google’s Play Store. One of the reasons behind its increasing popularity is the app’s reward scheme.
The app pays users to join and invite other users to join the app, The Verge reported. Users can earn $1 for signing up and $20 for the first time they get another user to sign up and $10 for every five users after that, it said. The legitimacy of this payment scheme, however, is unclear.
A Zynn spokesperson had told the Financial Times that they were focusing on getting users to the platform this way spending the money they would have instead paid advertisers to attract more users.
According to another FT report, a Zynn spokesperson had said that the app had likely been removed from the platform due to “plagiarism” and that the company has “had some lapses in this area.”
A spokesperson for Apple said that the company was looking into the short video platform but it is yet to get additional information on the same, the Wired reported.
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