Banning TikTok will likely also lead to the removal of CapCut, Lemon8 and other ByteDance apps

The US government is moving ever closer to banning TikTok, a move that would not only impact TikTok.

As Mashable reported this weekend, the House passed an update version of the ban with bipartisan support. If or when he gets to President Biden’s desk, Biden has signaled that he will sign it and effectively ban TikTok in the United States unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sells the platform.

However, it is not just TikTok users who will be affected by such a ban. This bill paves the way for the United States to potentially ban many other foreign-based apps or platforms. As Axios points out that the bill’s language prohibits any application that the US government considers to be an “application controlled by a foreign adversary” and includes applications “operated, directly or indirectly (including through a parent company, ‘a subsidiary or an affiliated company)’ of these. foreign adversaries. »

Last month, Mashable shared some examples of applications that could potentially be affected by this bill if it becomes law like WeChat or even shopping platforms like Temu or AliExpress. Although the broad wording of the bill means a wide range of companies and apps could be affected, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are the only parties specified.

And, as Axios reports, it seems pretty clear that if TikTok is banned in the US, ByteDance’s other app catalogs are likely to go down as well.

Farewell to CapCut, Lemon8, Lark and more?

Although TikTok is the app that ByteDance is best known for, the company has launched a host of other platforms and apps over the years that have also become very popular in their target markets.

For example, CapCut has become a very popular video editing application on mobile devices and desktop computers. Many viral videos on TikTok and beyond are created using CapCut. Creators looking for a quick and easy video editing tool have also used CapCut for long-form videos. However, CapCut is owned by ByteDance and could very well be banned if TikTok is. And the same goes for ByteDance’s photo editing app Hypical.

Lark is a suite of business productivity apps that includes documents, chats, messages and more. It’s essentially the ByteDance version of Google Workspace and the company even uses it internally for its own business. However, under the US bill banning TikTok, Lark could also be banned.

In addition to its hugely popular social video platform, ByteDance runs a Pinterest-like social media platform called Lemon8 which is quite popular within the lifestyle and wellness community. Of all ByteDance’s apps, Lemon8 is probably the closest to TikTok, which could lead to its ban in the United States.

Other ByteDance apps available in the US, like its “AI Study Companion” app Gauth And Sound activatedmusic distribution and royalty platform for artists, could also be banned.

If the bill banning TikTok becomes law, it’s unclear what will happen next. ByteDance, by law, would essentially have to divest from TikTok and sell the company within a year. But TikTok is would have is preparing for a legal battle to fight the law if it passes, so it could be some time before ByteDance has to sell the app if it ultimately has to do so.