In addition to the troubled TikTok, three other Chinese companies’ apps are among the top 10 most downloaded free apps in the US and the UK.
In addition to the troubled TikTok, three other Chinese companies’ apps are among the top 10 most downloaded free apps in the US and the UK. Users in the United States and the United Kingdom also enjoy Chinese-owned apps like CapCut, Shein, and Temu, according to BBC News, which cited analytics firm Apptopia.
CapCut, a well-liked video-editing app among TikTok content creators, had 13 million downloads in February, according to Sensor Tower. With CapCut, you can edit videos using a variety of tools, such as the ability to add music, filters, and special effects.
The video-editing app is owned by ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Global fast fashion retailer Shein is one of Chinese owned apps that receives a lot of downloads.
Shein, one of the most downloaded apps in the Google Play Store, was founded in 2012 by Chinese billionaire Chris Xu, ranking second in the United States and fifth in the United Kingdom. Shein has approximately 74.7 million active customers and was downloaded more than 200 million times worldwide in 2022, according to the app industry information website Business of Apps.
Temu, a recently launched Chinese-owned e-commerce company, has outperformed American-based Amazon and Walmart despite having only been around for a little over a year. Temu, which has been downloaded by over 50 million people, enables its users to buy directly from Chinese producers.
The Chinese e-commerce app also ran a Super Bowl ad earlier this year that featured cheap prices, prompting many Americans to look up “Is Temu legit?” Temu’s parent company is PDD Holdings, a sizable online retailer with Chinese ownership.
Zeyi Yang, a Chinese technology journalist and researcher for the MIT Review, attributed the popularity of Chinese apps to their performance in their domestic market. “The Chinese tech companies have experienced such a fierce period of domestic competition that has made them as good or better, in some ways, than American apps.”
The U.S. government has recently placed Chinese apps under intense scrutiny due to their alleged connections to China’s Communist Party, despite the fact that the majority of Americans download them.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attempted to reassure lawmakers during a hearing last month by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce by claiming that the video-sharing app is not collecting user data and does not endanger the safety of children.
Additionally, Chew has played down claims that TikTok has ties to the Chinese government. The $1.5 billion initiative, which would allow American security experts to audit their operations, was also highlighted by the CEO of TikTok. However, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle remained unimpressed, and the likelihood of a national ban is becoming more and more likely.