TikTok is facing a ban in US. But America still addicted to these Chinese apps

It could well be called China’s most popular export in recent times, but time is now ticking away for TikTok. The Chinese-linked app is staring at a ban in the United States as well as other Western countries — many of them have imposed a ban on the app or restricted its use to leaders and government officials.

A week ago, Tiktok’s boss Shou Zi Chew faced a hostile US Congress where he was grilled about the Chinese parent company ByteDance’s ties to the Chinese government and how much access Beijing had to the data.

But TikTok isn’t China’s only app that has taken the US and other Western markets by storm. There are other Chinese apps that are expanding in the West, exporting China’s soft power, and also putting the data of millions of users at risk.

Apptopia, an analytics firm, has released data of the most downloaded apps in the world and TikTok and other Chinese-linked firms such as Shein, Temu and CapCut feature in the top 10 of the list.

Also read: US, UK, New Zealand and more… Why are these countries banning TikTok?

We take a closer look at these other apps that have US market hooked.

CapCut

CapCut, a video-editing tool created in 2020 that helps people quickly create online videos and memes, comes from the same company that owns TikTok — China’s ByteDance.

According to users, the app allows people to edit videos easily using various templates, filters, visual effects and music. Its loyal users say that CapCut enables them to make clips look more professional and they have a better chance of going viral on TikTok and other platforms.

While TikTok has received flak for its data collection, CapCut has escaped the scrutiny of the US officials. However, it too collects content such as photos and videos as well as users’ locations, gender and birthdays. When asked, it said that the data was stored in the US and Singapore — similar to TikTok.

According to Apptopia, CapCut was the fourth most downloaded app across the world with 357 million downloads. As per Tower Sensor, about seven per cent of its global downloads since last year came just from United States.

It is important to note here that while CapCut enjoys popularity in the US and other Western countries, it is banned in India.

Shein

If you have used social media — Facebook, TikTok or Instagram — there’s almost no chance that you haven’t come across a user talking about their #sheinhaul. Founded in China’s Nanjing in October 2008, this fast fashion brand has grown to become the world’s largest fashion retailer as of 2022.

In April 2022, Bloomberg valued the brand at $100 billion. Founded by Chinese billionaire Chris Xu, it is today headquartered in Singapore. Its biggest selling point is the low pricing of clothes that are shipped to more than 150 countries and regions worldwide, catering to women in their teens and 20s.

It follows the Amazon model — an online marketplace offering visibility to about 6,000 clothing factories in China under its label. Today, there are tens of thousands of styles on the retailer’s site, and each day, about 1,000 more are added, making it a shopper’s delight.

Also read: China’s turbo-charged online fashion takes on Zara and H&M

Shein has also recruited A-list stars Katy Perry, Lil Nas X, Rita Ora and Doja Cat in the past to garner more users. It also worked with reality TV star Khloe Kardashian, who served as a judge for its design competition.

According to data provided by Apptopia, Shein is the most downloaded shopping app this year — with 229 million downloads worldwide and 40 million alone in the United States.

And despite its many controversies, including selling Swastika pendants and poor treatment of its workers, who toil away in Chinese factories in unfit conditions, the app continues to enjoy mass popularity in the US as well as in other countries. In fact, it is the most downloaded app in Brazil last year, with 52 million downloads.

Shein has been banned in India since June 2020 as it was found detrimental to national security.

Temu

In September last year, US customers were introduced to Temu, a shopping app with prices too good to believe. As Wired has put it, Temu marries the “everything store” selection of Amazon with the low prices and social elements that have made fast-fashion juggernaut Shein so successful.

And it seems that this model is working. In October 2022, the app ranked at 39 on the list of most downloaded free iPhone apps in the US, and fifth among free shopping apps, behind only Amazon, Shein, Walmart, and Nike.

Interestingly, the company headquartered in Boston is the sister concern of Chinese ecommerce giant Pinduoduo. Both of these are owned by PDD Holdings Inc, a multinational commerce group that is registered in the Cayman Islands.

Today, the shopping app — which allows China-based vendors to sell and ship directly to US customers — has become a huge hit with America and features eighth on the 10 most downloaded shopping apps in the US with 16.5 million downloads.

Rui Ma, an investor and analyst who founded Tech Buzz China — a podcast — told Wired.com, that the app has evolved at “China speed” — the kind of growth Chinese companies are known for and that US companies are struggling to keep up with.

A recent CNN investigation reports that the app can bypass users’ cell phone security to monitor activities on other apps, check notifications, read private messages and change settings. According to cyber experts who spoke to CNN, the app is also difficult to remove once installed.

The CNN report states that it spoke to multiple cyber experts and found that Pinduoduo takes violations of privacy and data security to the next level. The experts identified the presence of malware on the Pinduoduo app that exploited vulnerabilities in Android operating systems.

Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at WithSecure, a Finnish cybersecurity firm told CNN, “We haven’t seen a mainstream app like this trying to escalate their privileges to gain access to things that they’re not supposed to gain access to. This is highly unusual, and it is pretty damning for Pinduoduo.”

Are these apps a cause for concern?

These apps may be acquiring US customers, but experts cite concerns about the privacy and data collection violations.

An executive at the think tank founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt wrote in February that popular Chinese apps “could pose similar challenges (to TikTok), particularly with respect to data harvesting, data exploitation, and—possibly—covert influence.”

But there are others who believe that the worries are overblown.

And despite all the scrutiny and hate it receives from leaders, TikTok continues to enjoy support from the American masses.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.