Another ByteDance-owned app, Lemon8, has risen in the Apple App Store rankings as the TikTok ban is set to go into effect at the end of the week, barring Supreme Court intervention.
The second-ranked app in the App Store seems to be a combination of multiple other well-known social media sites. It features videos that cater to users’ particular interests and sensibilities (like TikTok); photos that may be submitted as a single image or as a carousel of images (like Instagram); and an interface that lets users interact with multiple forms of material simultaneously (like Pinterest).
According to Jessica Maddox, an associate professor of digital media technology at the University of Alabama, Lemon8 would be the result of the union of those three apps.
Only TikTok and its parent firm, ByteDance, are specifically mentioned in the statute. But it also states that the same rule might prohibit any of ByteDance’s subsidiaries. This implies that Lemon8 may also be subject to a ban, although as of Monday, neither the business nor the US government had discussed its future.
Lemon8’s TikTok ads seem to have increased in volume before the suspension. On its site, TikTok has employed conventional ads to get consumers to download it. Users have also received alerts from TikTok urging them to download Lemon8.
Some regular users of TikTok are publishing to the platform as though it were TikTok. A request for comment from TikTok was not immediately answered.
To put it briefly, if TikTok becomes instantly inoperable following the ban on Sunday, it appears that Lemon8 is poised to take over.
Here is all the information you require on Lemon8.
What is Lemon8?
According to Maddox, Lemon8 is a cultural platform whose user interface draws inspiration from other well-known social media platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest.
According to the login screen, the platform indicates that TikTok powers the app when users launch it. Additionally, users are prompted to sign in using their TikTok accounts. Additionally, users are asked to follow every individual they followed on TikTok who has a Lemon8 account.
Before being sent to the main feed, where they will view postings with still photos and videos, users will also be able to choose what they want to see and what interests them. The comment sections, which are an essential component of TikTok’s inside jokes and humor, are visible to users after they click on postings.
When was it released?
In February 2023, Lemon8 made its debut in the US and the UK. In May 2020, it made its debut in Japan. It was called Sharee there.
According to sources at the time, Lemon8 made it into the top 10 most downloaded apps in the Apple App Store around a month after its US release. After Congress questioned TikTok CEO Shou Chew about the platform’s security, use skyrocketed.
What kind of content is on the platform?
Upon creating an account on Lemon8, users are asked to choose their interests, which include everything from food and lifestyle to video games, music, and movies.
It appears that some of the content was copied and pasted from TikTok. For instance, the influencer Jasmine Chiswelll, who rose to fame on TikTok for her fashion posts and Marilyn Monroe-esque look, uploaded swatches of nude lipsticks in a video titled “100 Years of LIPSTICKS” on Lemon8.
In 2023, Chiswell posted the identical video to TikTok, where it received 1.5 million likes. It received less than 10,000 likes on Lemon8.
Additionally, users can exchange images. Still photographs shared with only text and no music feel more like content on Instagram than on TikTok, despite the fact that the app has become a location where users can post still images and where huge trends have developed around the interface.
Users see two rows of information that they must choose to watch, as opposed to one piece at a time like on Instagram’s main feed or TikTok’s For You page. The interface resembles the search function on TikTok. It also looks a lot like the smartphone version of Pinterest.
Could Lemon8 be banned under the new law banning TikTok?
To put it succinctly, yes.
Eric Goldman, a law professor, associate dean for research, and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law, says as much.
According to Goldman, the way the statute is drafted does not provide it much leeway.
According to Goldman, ByteDance’s subsidiaries will be subject to the same regulations as long as the company is owned by a foreign foe as that term is defined in the Act. Therefore, I don’t think the case is particularly close.
“I have issues with the ban,” he continued. Although I disagree with its scope, that doesn’t seem to be a particularly debatable issue from a legislative interpretation standpoint.
According to Goldman, the law also gives the president the authority to declare that an app belongs to a “foreign adversary,” in which case it would face the same legal issues as TikTok, including possible bans.
However, this does not imply that it will be prohibited merely because it is possible.
How many people use Lemon8?
According to The Associated Press, Lemon8 had slightly more than 1 million daily active users in the US, according to data from the research firm SimilarWeb. According to the AP, there were 12.5 million monthly active users worldwide in December.
According to Maddox, who has been using the app since last year, there has been a significant surge of users.
“Every couple of days, I receive notifications from dozens of people who are following me on Lemon8,” she stated. There’s a tremendous push going on right now, and I wonder whether it will likely alter the algorithms’ recommendations.
Given that Lemon8 has a far smaller user base than TikTok, ByteDance may be hoping the app would go undetected by potential censors.