Singapore’s Likee Is an Unlikely Winner of the TikTok Ban

Panic over the US TikTok ban elevated utilization and downloads of a slew of other social media apps, together with Texas-based Clapper, Chinese language-owned RedNote, and Likee, a little-known platform out of Singapore with an AI-powered video feed much like TikTok’s, in line with new market analysis.

Individuals within the US could not access TikTok for about 14 hours on late Saturday into Sunday after a federal legislation aimed toward curbing China’s alleged affect over the app went into impact and triggered an unprecedented incident of web censorship in a rustic that prizes free expression. About 63 p.c of US teenagers and a 3rd of US adults use TikTok, in line with Pew Research Center.

Among the many locations a few of them took refuge was Likee, a TikTok clone launched by the worthwhile Singaporean tech firm Joyy in 2017. Likee had about 33.9 million month-to-month customers as of November, most of whom had been outdoors the US. However on Saturday, Likee drew 143 p.c extra downloads and 37 p.c extra utilization within the US than the day prior to this, in line with Sensor Tower, which estimates figures by gathering information from a pattern of gadgets. The pattern continued into Sunday, when Likee utilization ticked up 11 p.c from a day earlier.

Estimates from Apptopia, one other firm that research the app business, present that for months, Likee recorded lower than 10,000 downloads per day within the US earlier than leaping to just about 167,000 on Sunday and about 286,000 on Monday. Apptopia additionally estimated comparable bumps for TikTok rivals Clapper and Flip.

On Tuesday, shares of Likee’s mother or father firm, Joyy, closed up about 3 p.c, outpacing the common acquire amongst its Nasdaq friends. Joyy does not escape Likee’s financials, but it surely and a few of its different sibling apps collectively generated about $73 million in gross sales throughout final 12 months’s third quarter from promoting and person purchases. Likee didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Different less-frequented apps, together with Clapper and Snap’s Snapchat, drew elevated curiosity over the weekend to the tune of double-digit positive factors in person exercise. TikTok’s greatest rivals, Meta’s Instagram and Fb, noticed extra modest single-digit boosts. YouTube and X, in the meantime, skilled little change in utilization.

RedNote, one other Chinese language app that Individuals had flocked to in protest throughout the days earlier than the ban, added 80 p.c extra customers Sunday than the day earlier than, in line with Sensor Tower. Within the first two days of the push earlier within the week, over 700,000 new customers joined RedNote, Reuters reported. Generally known as Xiaohongshu in Chinese language, it ranked in current days because the most-downloaded free app on the Google and Apple app shops within the US.

TikTok came back online within the US on Sunday after president-elect Donald Trump promised to offer a short lived reprieve of the brand new legislation when he took energy the next day. The statute, signed by former President Biden final 12 months, successfully bans TikTok by threatening to effective website hosting suppliers and app shops that work with its mother or father firm, Chinese language tech large ByteDance, until it divests its possession in TikTok. Customers got here again to TikTok in droves on Sunday, with each day lively customers up 17 p.c over Saturday, the Sensor Tower information present.

On Monday, Trump issued an executive order offering for 75 extra days to type out the dilemma over TikTok. However the legality of his decree stays in query, and TikTok remains to be unavailable in US app shops. However when customers seek for TikTok, they’re greeted by a listing of options—Likee, Clapper, and others amongst them.