As regulators the world over continue to , the insanely popular short-video app owned by Chinese company ByteDance, it seems they are missing the bigger picture. is only the tip of the iceberg; , and may potentially be used to influence users. scrutinize TikTok TikTok four out of the five most downloaded apps in April 2023 had Chinese roots This is not to say that something nefarious is happening on these apps — or even will happen. Chinese apps tend to be naturally successful in the West because they are created in a environment where engineers abide by the — work from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. The digital services that break out are good and thus successful. highly competitive 996 working hour system really Nevertheless, seeing how things are going for , which has been accused of posing a national security threat and censoring content unfavorable to China, it’s important to know what these apps are so that we may weigh in when they inevitably come to the forefront of international discussion. TikTok Temu — Amazon on steroids Temu is the American off-shoot of (拼多多), one of China’s largest e-commerce platforms. Both belong to , a Chinese conglomerate. Temu’s success comes from its ability to offer incredibly cheap products — “ ” — for a wide variety of categories from fashion ( ) to technology ( ), and everything in between. Pinduoduo PDD Holding exclusive sales up to 90% off $1.69 for five pairs of socks! $8.98 for Lenovo earbuds! Products can take a few weeks to arrive — — as they are shipped from Chinese factories or warehouses. This reduces the price drastically, so users seem not to mind. Growth has been driven by aggressive marketing campaigns, including . if they ever do directly a Superbowl advert in early 2023 This all sounds very reasonable, and even bears a striking resemblance to s . But an over-zealously Sinophobic lawmaker could find plenty to say about Temu. For starters, the app collects much more personal data from its users than TikTok does. Names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, credit card information, browsing history, preferences, and purchases could all potentially be used by unfriendly actors to target users with phishing scams, identity theft, fraud, blackmail, or espionage. Amazon’ modus operandi The real “threat”, however, is much more straightforward. For the first time in 30 years, China’s manufacturing has become capable enough to entirely do away with intermediaries and directly compete with Western companies ( ). If more and more consumers flock to Temu to buy cheap goods, and other competitors might feel pressured to slash their prices too. A lower break-even point — combined with shareholders’ demands for short-term profits — would cut wages, erode domestic manufacturing, and create (further) unrest within the more blue-collar parts of the population. As we know, ; best to keep an eye out. RIP drop-shipping Amazon they’re already pretty upset CapCut — TikTok’s talented younger brother Another insanely popular Chinese app is (originally JianYing), a video-editing app launched and maintained by ByteDance, . The app offers basic video editing features such as text, stickers, filters, colors, and music, as well as more advanced features such as keyframe animation, smooth slow-motion effects, chroma key, Picture-in-Picture (PIP), and stabilization. CapCut the same company behind TikTok CapCut prides itself in being “the official free Video Editor and Video Maker with Music for TikTok that is versatile and easy-to-use”. It’s no “Just Do It”, but the lack of a good tagline hasn’t stopped the app’s growth: it now has , mostly driven by TikTok’s success and the need to keep innovating to stay at the top of the virality game. 200 million monthly active users Nothing there could be concerning for lawmakers, right? That is, until they learn that . Notably, one of the tools being discussed would allow users to generate videos in seconds simply by providing a textual prompt. multiple teams at CapCut are working to launch AI-driven features This presents two issues that anti-China governments could exploit. First, as fake videos and begin to cause harm, it’s likely that foreign tools will be heavily scrutinized for any signs of government intervention. It would be too easy to train an AI model that makes particularly believable fakes of one political candidate over another, or to ensure that specific power dynamics are highlighted in all AI-generated content, slowly but surely encouraging unrest. become increasingly common The topic of data privacy is also likely to quickly become preponderant. Many people are already displeased about AIs being trained with their image and content without ever seeing a dime. That feeling is likely to become somewhat exaggerated when the AIs are created by foreign powers to do who knows what. SHEIN — Our planet’s worse nightmare You’ve heard of SHEIN. And if you haven’t your teenage daughter has. As have the entire world’s teenage daughters, it seems. The app is that specializes in women’s fashion, offering “trendy” clothing, shoes, accessories, and beauty products at affordable prices. Affordable here means dirt-cheap, this being a Chinese company. yet another e-commerce company It is owned by Roadget Business Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based subsidiary of ZOETOP Business Co., Ltd., a Chinese company based in Nanjing that also operates other fashion platforms such as ROMWE and CUPSHE. If this level of complexity seems suspicious, trust your instincts. According to a compiled by Money.co.uk, SHEIN has taken over giants like Nike and Adidas as the most-Googled clothing brand, and Zara and Macy’s in online sales. Just like Temu, the company has been using aggressive advertising over the past couple of months to get a significant share of the fast fashion market. This includes ( ), pop-up shops, and even a social media reality show co-hosted by Khloé Kardashian. In fact, their posters are plastered all over the Paris metro — that’s often the surest way of knowing a company is on a European blitz. report influencer partnerships #SHEINhaul SHEIN could be accused of the same “crimes” as Temu. It collects plenty of information about users and is lowering the standards and average prices of fast fashion so drastically that Zara and H&M are starting to look like Balenciaga in comparison. However, SHEIN has been targeted by more serious allegations already in the West. Firstly, the company is accused of . This has been an ongoing source of friction with China and is likely to get more intense as Sinophobia gets more intense (especially within luxury-heavy countries like Italy and France). providing counterfeit goods Secondly, the company’s treatment of workers is famously appalling: from , every rule in the book is broken by SHEIN. Finally, and perhaps more importantly, the environmental impact of SHEIN has come to the forefront. The company (and/or its affiliates) the same amount of CO2 as approximately 180 coal-fired power plants unsafe conditions to unsustainable hours churns out . Should there be an attack on the company, these will likely be the angle chosen by regulators. Given that the world is both increasingly warm and covered in trash, who could blame them? Temu, CapCut, and SHEIN have all . And why wouldn’t they? Based on how TikTok has been treated by US regulators who have tried to ban it or force it to sell its US operations to an American company, they have every reason to downplay their Chinese connections. But it may not be enough. distanced themselves from China in recent months As mentioned above, they could face accusations of being linked to or controlled by the Chinese government, of collecting or sharing user data with China for espionage or propaganda purposes, of violating user privacy or security rights, of infringing on intellectual property rights of other companies or countries, or of posing a competitive threat to local businesses or industries. These accusations may lead to various consequences for these apps and their users. They could be banned or restricted from operating in certain markets or platforms. They could be sued or fined for violating laws or regulations. They could be boycotted or criticized by consumers or media outlets. They could lose access to suppliers or partners that are affected by sanctions or tariffs. They could face technical difficulties or glitches due to cyber-attacks or sabotage. Only time will tell if this comes to be. In the meantime, and probably more importantly, we may need to wonder why some of the best apps out there are Chinese. Are we losing our edge? Maybe there are lessons to be learnt here, rather than relying on fear. As Kai-Fu Lee, a former executive at and who now runs an AI-focused venture capital firm in Beijing, said in a recent interview: “ ”. Perhaps we should pay more attention to what these apps are doing right, rather than what they are doing wrong. Google Microsoft China has shown the world that innovation can happen anywhere Good luck out there. Also published here.

The is an opinion piece based on the author’s POV and does not necessarily reflect the views of HackerNoon.

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