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[WATCHLIST] Lemon8 – TikTok ban backup plan? ByteDance-owned Instagram rival Lemon8 hits the US App Store’s Top 10

Why is everyone talking about Lemon8?

It’s a social media app that is a mix of Pinterest and Instagram, and it’s taking the social media world by storm. Lemon8 has over 17 million global downloads since its launch in March 2020.

What is Lemon8?

Lemon8 is a video and photo-sharing social media platform catering to users’ interest in food, beauty, wellness, and travel.

Quick numbers:

• It’s been installed in the U.S. 650,000 times in the past week and a half.
• It reached 5 million active users worldwide in 2022.
• Japan is Lemon8’s largest market, representing 36.5% of its lifetime downloads. The app has a sizable following in Asia and Southeast Asia.
• The app is currently #1 on the Lifestyle Chart.
• ByteDance also owns another successful app: CapCut, a video-editing app with more than 200 million active users each month.

Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance, the Chinese company that created TikTok.

As TikTok’s talk of a ban looms, its parent company ByteDance is strategically setting up a backup plan.

In the US app stores, Lemon8 is owned by a company Singapore company, Heliophilia Pte, in Singapore’s public registry. However, Heliophilia Pte is located at the same address as TikTok’s local Singaporean headquarters.

Why is there a rise in downloads?

Business Insider reported that ByteDance was paying creators in the US and UK to post content to Lemon8 to attract more users.

Privacy

Since Lemon8 is powered by the same underlying technology as TikTok and owned by the same Chinese company, it will most likely be subject to the same potential privacy and national security risks.

As Lemon8’s popularity rises amongst Gen Z, Manalei Media continues to keep a pulse with the ever-changing social media and marketing landscape for our clients’ marketing strategy.