China orders TikTok owner ByteDance to remove work-from-home app

  • The takedown order on Feishu deals a blow to ByteDance’s ambitions to compete in China’s broader enterprise software market
  • Feishu – a mash-up of Slack, Skype and Google Docs – allowed users to browse content from banned foreign sites like Facebook and Twitter

The suspension ordered by Chinese regulators cast an unwanted spotlight on ByteDance’s Feishu app, which became popular during the coronavirus pandemic as a work-from-home alternative. Photo: SCMP

Chinese regulators ordered ByteDance to temporarily suspend downloads of its nascent Slack-style office app after discovering content from banned sites like Facebook and Twitter, dealing a blow to the start-up’s broader internet ambitions.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) informed TikTok’s owner to take down its Feishu office collaboration tool from major domestic app stores for about a month, people familiar with the matter said.

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