ByteDance facts for kids
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AVIC Plaza, one of the office buildings of ByteDance in Beijing.
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Native name
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字节跳动有限公司
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| Private | |
| Industry | Internet |
| Founded | 13 March 2012 |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Revenue |  US$120 billion (2023) |
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Operating income
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US$2 billion (2022) |
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Number of employees
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c. 150,000 (2023) |
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| Zijie Tiaodong | |||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 字节跳动 | ||||||||||||||
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ByteDance Ltd. is a big technology company from China. It creates popular apps and websites for people all over the world. Its main offices are in Beijing, China.
The company was started in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, Liang Rubo, and their team. ByteDance is famous for creating the video-sharing apps TikTok and Douyin. They also made the news platform called Toutiao.
ByteDance has received attention from governments and media in many countries. This is because of concerns about security, watching users, and how content is controlled.
Contents
What is ByteDance?
How ByteDance Started
In 2009, a software engineer named Zhang Yiming worked with his friend Liang Rubo. They started a website called 99fang.com, which helped people find real estate.
In early 2012, Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo, with other employees, began working on a new app. This app would use special computer programs called big data algorithms. These programs would sort news based on what users liked. This app later became known as Toutiao. In March of that year, Yiming and Liang officially started ByteDance.
First Apps and Growth
In March 2012, ByteDance launched its very first app, Neihan Duanzi. This app let users share jokes, funny pictures, and videos. It had over 200 million users before it was closed down by the Chinese government in 2018.
In August 2012, ByteDance launched the first version of Toutiao. This app became their main product, offering news and other content. In 2013, the company planned to make an English version of Toutiao. They wanted to reach users in English-speaking countries. At that time, many apps were competing for people's attention on their phones.
Expanding Around the World
In March 2016, ByteDance created its research part, called the ByteDance AI Lab. This lab focuses on artificial intelligence.
From late 2016 to 2017, ByteDance bought several companies and launched new products.
- In December 2016, they invested in BABE, a news platform in Indonesia.
- In February 2017, ByteDance bought Flipagram. This app was later renamed Vigo Video.
- In November 2017, ByteDance bought musical.ly for about US$1 billion. At that time, TikTok was only in India, and musical.ly was used worldwide. To make TikTok global, ByteDance combined musical.ly with TikTok on August 2, 2018. They kept the name TikTok.
- They also bought News Republic in November 2017.
In April 2021, ByteDance announced a new part of their company called BytePlus. This part helps other companies use the technology that makes TikTok work. This way, others can create similar apps.
In August 2021, ByteDance bought Pico, a company that makes virtual reality (VR) headsets, like Oculus.
How ByteDance is Organized
Money and Ownership
ByteDance gets money from many big investors. These include companies like Susquehanna International Group, SoftBank Group, and Sequoia Capital. In March 2021, the company was thought to be worth about $250 billion.
Most of ByteDance is owned by investors outside of China (60%). The founders and Chinese investors own 20%, and employees own another 20%. In 2021, a Chinese government-owned fund bought a small part of ByteDance's main Chinese company. This gave the government some influence over the company.
Leaders of the Company
Zhang Yiming was the main leader of ByteDance from 2012 until 2021. Then, co-founder Liang Rubo became the CEO.
In 2020, Kevin Mayer, who used to lead Disney's streaming business, joined ByteDance. He was the CEO of TikTok for a short time. In 2021, Shou Zi Chew became the CEO of TikTok.
Working with Others
ByteDance's business in China works closely with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. This partnership helps the ministry with its public messages.
In 2018, ByteDance helped create the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence. This project is supported by the Chinese government.
What Products Does ByteDance Make?
ByteDance creates many popular apps and services.
CapCut
CapCut is a video editing software that is easy for beginners to use. It was first released in April 2020. By March 2023, CapCut had over 200 million active users each month. It was even downloaded more than TikTok in the U.S. in March 2023.
Douyin
Douyin is the Chinese version of TikTok. It was launched in September 2016. This app is a social media platform for short videos. It has more advanced features than TikTok, like e-commerce (online shopping). TikTok and Douyin look similar but they have different content. Their computer servers are in different countries.
Lark
Lark is a tool for businesses to work together. It was first released in 2019. ByteDance first made Lark for its own employees to use. Later, they made it available to other companies in some parts of the world.
TikTok
TikTok is a very popular social networking service for sharing videos. It was launched in September 2017. Users make short videos about many things, like dance, comedy, and education. In November 2017, ByteDance bought a company called Musical.ly. They combined Musical.ly and another app into TikTok in August 2018.
TikTok Music
TikTok Music is a music streaming service. It was launched in Indonesia and Brazil in July 2023. Later, it also came to Mexico, Singapore, and Australia. This platform lets users share song lyrics and comments while listening to full songs. ByteDance has agreements with big music companies like Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.
Toutiao
Toutiao was launched in August 2012. It started as a way to suggest news to people. Over time, it grew into a platform with many types of content. This includes text, images, questions and answers, and videos.
In 2014, the company added video features to Toutiao. Toutiao uses what people like to help content creators find an audience. In 2017, Toutiao bought Flipagram. ByteDance also added features like a missing person alerts project. This project has helped find many missing people. They also added Toutiao Video, which is now called Xigua Video, and Toutiao Search, a search engine.
Xigua Video
Xigua Video was first launched as Toutiao Video in 2016. It is an online video-sharing platform. It has short and mid-length videos made by users. It also produces its own movies and TV shows.
Nuverse
Nuverse was launched in 2019 as a company that publishes video games. Their first game released outside China was Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade in 2021. Later in 2021, Moonton, a game developer, became part of Nuverse.
In 2022, Nuverse launched the game Marvel Snap worldwide. In November 2023, it was reported that ByteDance was changing its plans for Nuverse and reducing its focus on gaming.
Other Products
- Gogokid was an online English learning platform for children. It offered one-on-one classes with English speakers. ByteDance closed this app in 2021 because of new rules in China.
- Moonton is a company that makes mobile games. ByteDance bought Moonton in 2021. Moonton made the popular game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
- Party Island is a social media app where users can create avatars and join virtual events like concerts. They can also chat with other people.
- 8th Note Press is a book publishing company started by ByteDance in 2023.
Important Concerns
Data and Privacy
ByteDance has received attention because of concerns about watching users, how they handle data, and controlling content. Some concerns include content about human rights in Tibet and the treatment of Uyghurs in China. People are also worried about how China's laws might affect ByteDance and its employees.
Government Rules
In China
In April 2018, China's government ordered ByteDance to temporarily remove Toutiao and Neihan Duanzi from app stores. The government said Neihan Duanzi had "improper content." The next day, Neihan Duanzi was permanently shut down. ByteDance said it would work more closely with the government to promote their policies. After this, ByteDance announced they would hire more people to review content.
In 2019, ByteDance's main office in Beijing had police stationed there. This was so that any illegal content could be reported right away. In November 2019, the government ordered ByteDance to remove certain information from Toutiao. In April 2020, the government ordered ByteDance to take down its work tool, Lark. This was because it could be used to get around internet controls.
In November 2022, during protests in China, the government told ByteDance to increase its control over protest content.
In India
The government of India banned CapCut and TikTok in June 2020. They said it was for national security reasons. The ban became permanent in January 2021. In March 2021, the Indian government froze ByteDance's bank accounts in the country. They said it was for tax reasons, but ByteDance disagreed.
In the United States
In 2019, TikTok was fined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This was for breaking a law about children's online privacy. In response, ByteDance added a special kids-only mode to TikTok. This mode stops kids from uploading videos, making profiles, or sending direct messages.
TikTok and ByteDance have been looked at closely by U.S. lawmakers. This is because of worries that the Chinese government might watch users. Former U.S. President Donald Trump wanted TikTok to be sold or banned. His orders were later stopped by courts.
In March 2023, the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation started an investigation. This was after ByteDance employees tracked journalists to find out who was leaking information. ByteDance fired four employees because of this.
In March 2024, the House of Representatives passed a bill. This bill, if it becomes law, would force ByteDance to sell TikTok or have the app banned in the U.S. In April, the United States Congress passed a changed version of the bill. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on April 24, 2024. This gives ByteDance until January 19, 2025, to sell TikTok.
Images for kids
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A robot for kids.
