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
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.
That was punishment for a feature that allowed users to browse posts from foreign platforms via a newsfeed function, the people said, asking not to be named because the decision has not been made public. It is unclear when the actual takedown will ensue, they added.
The decision deals a blow to ByteDance’s ambitions while casting an unwanted spotlight on Feishu, which became popular during the pandemic as a work-from-home alternative. Feishu was intended to spearhead a foray into China’s enterprise software market, which has skyrocketed since Covid-19 pushed millions of workers out of offices.
Feishu – a mash-up of Slack, Skype and Google Docs – competes in China against similar offerings from Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings. DingTalk was the most downloaded free app on China’s iOS App Store for weeks during the nationwide lockdown. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.
Feishu’s twin app for users outside China, called Lark, is operating as normal and targeted at markets including Japan and Singapore.