Clubhouse’s rise has resulted in an influx of similar apps in the market. With the app ban in China, Bytedance is looking to rival Clubhouse by developing a similar app for its home country. Though there is not much to reveal at the current time, the app is said to be in its early stage.
China users lost their access to Clubhouse in February. Sensitive topics like Xinjiang detention camps and Hong Kong independence was too much for China, the government decided to cut all access to the app. The ban, however, triggered dozens of similar apps launches in the past month.
Clubhouse fever in China: more apps incoming
Other than ByteDance, one of Clubhouse competitors in China is Xiaomi. Reuters reported that the company has been in talks of reworking its Mi Talk app since last week. Xiaomi intends to make Mi Talk restricted to invited people only, just like Clubhouse. Compared to Xiaomi’s plan, sources from Reuters said that ByteDance is still way behind. ByteDance, however, remains silent about the rumour.
Other than Xiaomi and ByteDance, Lizhi Inc’s Zhiya app is starting to come to receive its spotlight. First launched in 2013, Zhiya app is generally used for game-related talks or sing songs. The company claims that they have employees and artificial intelligence tools monitoring the conversations happening through the app. This is to prevent discussions on “unwanted” content like pornography or politically sensitive issues. Chinese regulators took down the app in 2019, but Lizhi soon issued rectifications and retrieved its authorization.
Numeral new entrants might not be as fortunate, though. Inke Ltd’s Duihuaba had to pull its app back in two weeks just after its debut. The company said that there need to be some improvements in the app. Inke Ltd, however, did not mention what improvements will it include in the app.
Read also: Twitter Releases Spaces Platform on Android, Clubhouse Competitor
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