ByteDance appears to be aggressively steering TikTok users toward Lemon8, their Instagram/Pinterest-like alternative platform, as the US TikTok ban approaches. The company is implementing several strategies to facilitate this transition.

Key developments include:

• Integration between platforms started in November 2024, allowing TikTok usernames to work on Lemon8
• TikTok is running sponsored posts encouraging users to switch to Lemon8
• The app automatically transfers followers and maintains user profile information
• Lemon8's daily active users have doubled since last year, reaching over 1 million

However, this strategy faces a significant obstacle: The new law targets all ByteDance-owned apps, not just TikTok. This means Lemon8, along with other ByteDance properties like CapCut, Gauth, SoundOn, and Hypic, could also face restrictions.

Despite this challenge, ByteDance continues promoting the platform integration, with TikTok now displaying Lemon8 profile links by default and sharing user data between the services. The company appears to be betting that regulators will focus primarily on TikTok rather than its smaller sister apps.

The effectiveness of this transition strategy remains uncertain, especially given the broad scope of the ban targeting all ByteDance applications rather than TikTok specifically.

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