US-China tensions have led to multiple TikTok social media clones

This appeared in The Millennial Source

Social media apps are increasingly adopting the features of their rivals in the pursuit of bigger market shares and user engagement.

Amid the broader trade war between the United States and China, 2020 has witnessed a new complication in US-China relations — American attacks against Chinese-owned social media apps.

In particular, the popular short-form video-sharing app TikTok — known in China as Douyin — has been repeatedly targeted by the Trump administration as a grave national security threat, owing to its ownership by Chinese tech company ByteDance Ltd.

The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to ban the app and force the sale of its US operations to a “very American” company, in Trump’s words.

However, with 2020 drawing to a close, TikTok still has not been banned, remains available for download and is no closer to being sold.

But the impending nature of TikTok’s ban has emboldened competitors. Rival social media apps have adopted TikTok-like features to fill the chasm that could eventually be left behind should TikTok be banned.

And this development parallels a broader pattern in the industry. Social media apps are increasingly…