USA plans ban: TikTok positions its app offshoot Lemon8

The app Lemon8 has recently been ranked second in the American download charts of the Apple App Store. It is a direct offshoot of the social media app TikTok, which is about to be banned in the USA.

Lemon8 was also developed by the Chinese company ByteDance and uses the same algorithm as TikTok. The user interface and functionality are also similar to its big role model: there is a "For you" start page on which the user is presented with lots of short videos that could potentially be of interest. However, there are also features that are reminiscent of Instagram or Pinterest, such as the ability to edit and share images or create collages.

Switching to Lemon8 is easy

However, the many new Lemon8 users are no coincidence. In light of the ban, ByteDance is apparently allowing TikTok and Lemon8 to grow closer together by giving TikTok users the option of transferring their account, including followers, to Lemon8 when they log in with their TikTok user data. According to Forbes Magazine, prominent TikTok users with a wide reach are apparently calling for users to switch to Lemon8 or to become active there. In at least one case, such an appeal was also sponsored, although it is unclear by whom, according to Forbes.

The great hope is that the alternative platform could continue to be available after January 19 when the ban could come into force. However, representatives of the US government deny this. Christopher Krepich, head of communications for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, told Forbes Magazine that Lemon8 would also be affected by the ban. At a congressional hearing in March, Republican US Congresswoman Cathy McMorris also explicitly mentioned Lemon8 and the video editing app CapCut, in addition to TikTok, as being at risk of "foreign interference and manipulation". CapCut also belongs to ByteDance.

Ban draws ever closer

According to the law that came into force in April, the video app must change hands by January 19. Otherwise, it will be banned from the app stores in the USA and lose access to infrastructure.

At the request of the platform, the Supreme Court wants to take a closer look at the case. A hearing has been scheduled for January 10. The judges want to examine whether the law on the change of ownership violates the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech.

President Joe Biden could extend the deadline for TikTok by another three months, but only if there are promising sales negotiations. So far, however, TikTok has refused to even consider a change of ownership. The app claims to have 170 million users in the USA. The next US President-elect Donald Trump has lobbied the Supreme Court against the TikTok ban. In his first term in office, he himself failed with a ban, but he attributes his success in the last US elections in part to the app.

(nen)