 | |||||
| Developer(s) | ByteDance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial release | May 2020; 4 years ago (2020-05) | ||||
| Stable release(s) | |||||
| |||||
| Available in | 6 languages | ||||
| List of languagesEnglish, Indonesian, Japanese, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese | |||||
| Type | Video sharing | ||||
| License | Proprietary | ||||
| Website | lemon8-app | ||||
Lemon8 is a social media app owned by Heliophilia Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean company connected to the Chinese internet company ByteDance. It was launched in 2020 and modeled after Xiaohongshu, which was released in 2013.
History
The app was first launched in Japan in May 2020 under the name Sharee, and hit 1 million downloads in March 2022. It launched in the United States and United Kingdom in February 2023, resulting in it becoming one of the most-downloaded apps on the US App Store a month later following influencer marketing campaigns.
While Lemon8 is credited as being a product of Heliophilia Pte. Ltd., a private company registered in Singapore, that company shares the exact same address as TikTok's offices in the country. TikTok's global general counsel has also spoken on behalf of Lemon8.
In November 2024, Lemon8 began to be integrated with TikTok, allowing users to link their profiles between the services and find their followers.
Content
Lemon8 has been compared to Instagram, Pinterest, and Chinese app Xiaohongshu (also known as RED outside of China), with a particular focus on lifestyle content targeting women (such as beauty, food, and home decor).
Reception
The U.S. launch of Lemon8 coincided with scrutiny over ByteDance and TikTok's operations in the country; lawmakers expressed concerns with Lemon8 due to its connection with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Lindsay Gorman, head of technology and geopolitics at the German Marshall Fund and a former tech advisor for the Biden administration, has stated "it has to do with gathering information on users and it has the same ownership structure, being a child of ByteDance, so I think the same issues are going to come up".
In January 2025, ahead of oral arguments in the United States Supreme Court over an act of Congress that would prohibit ByteDance or its subsidiaries from operating social networking services in the United States, TikTok began to increasingly carry sponsored posts that advertise Lemon8 to U.S. users. The ads promoted Lemon8 as a "backup app", emphasizing its TikTok account integration and implicating that it was a platform "where the government is not 100% controlling what we see".
References
- ^ "字节出海：偷师小红书，超越小红书-36氪". 36kr.com. 2025-01-14. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ Maheshwari, Sapna; Kircher, Madison Malone (2023-03-29). "TikTok's Owner Pushes a New App, While Under Washington's Glare". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- ^ Fischer, Sara; Curi, Maria (2025-01-07). "TikTok pushes users to Lemon8 as ban looms". Axios. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
- Lorenz, Taylor (2023-04-01). "Lemon8 is a Chinese-owned app. Can it survive the hype cycle?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- ^ Cuthbertson, Anthony (2023-03-29). "Lemon8: TikTok parent company's latest app hits top 10 in US charts". The Independent. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- De Wei, Low (2023-03-31). "What Is Lemon8 and What Are Its Links With Under-Fire TikTok". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- Whateley, Dan; Biino, Marta (2023-03-31). "With TikTok's future in limbo, its owner is hiring a team in New York to woo creators for a new app". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- "TikTok maker ByteDance takes aim at lifestyle leader Xiaohongshu with new app". Reuters. 2022-07-14. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- Fischer, Sara (2023-04-10). "TikTok sister app Lemon8 surges in U.S." Axios. Retrieved 2025-01-09.