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TikTok remained the world’s most-downloaded non-game app in May, but downloads were down year on year as political turmoil continues to take a toll. Photo: DPA
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TikTok still the world’s most popular entertainment app with 80 million downloads in May, a 35 per cent jump

  • TikTok installs surpassed 80 million downloads last month, a 35 per cent increase over April, but down from a peak of 112 million the same month last year
  • Political turmoil continues to plague the ByteDance-owned short-video app in the US, and it remains banned in India
TikTok
Coco Feng
Coco Fengin Beijing
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TikTok installs jumped 35 per cent in May over the previous month, continuing its streak as the world’s most-downloaded non-game app, according to mobile market analytics firm Sensor Tower.

However, downloads of the viral short-video app were down 29 per cent year on year, falling short of its record 112 million downloads last May. In June of last year, the app was banned in India, its top overseas market at the time.

The figures include the international TikTok app and the Chinese version called Douyin, both owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. The biggest market for new installs last month was Brazil, with 16 per cent, followed by Douyin in China at 12 per cent, according to Sensor Tower.

The man who turned ByteDance and TikTok into a global sensation

The US was TikTok’s second-largest market from December to March, but it fell out of the top two in April, according to Sensor Tower.

TikTok has been facing a political backlash in the US since last summer, when then-president Donald Trump threatened to ban the app unless ByteDance divested its American operations, which Oracle and Walmart had plans to acquire.

The current administration under President Joe Biden has paused legal action against TikTok, but it is still reviewing US policy towards Chinese apps.

06:02

Global expansion of TikTok and other Chinese tech companies is likely, only not in the West

Global expansion of TikTok and other Chinese tech companies is likely, only not in the West
The tensions have led ByteDance to delay plans for an initial public offering. The nine-year-old start-up, currently the world’s most valuable unicorn, is having difficulties formulating a business structure that can please both Beijing and Washington, sources told the South China Morning Post in April.
Challenges in the US also led to the abrupt departure of TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, who resigned last summer after only three months on the job. ByteDance’s new chief financial officer Chew Shou Zi was appointed TikTok CEO in late April.

When ByteDance first hired Chew as CFO in March, it was seen as the company getting closer to a public listing. While CFO and international business president of Xiaomi, Chew oversaw the smartphone giant’s IPO in Hong Kong in 2018.

Before Xiaomi, Chew worked for DST Global, where he helped the venture firm invest in ByteDance in 2013.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: ByteDance’s TikTok still world’s most popular app
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