Lemon8

Social media app owned by ByteDance

Lemon8

Developer(s)| ByteDance
Initial release| May 2020; 5 years ago (2020-05)
Stable release(s)

| iOS/iPadOS| 7.7.5 / January 8, 2025; 6 months ago (2025-01-08)

|

Android| 7.8.0 / January 3, 2025; 6 months ago (2025-01-03)

Available in| 6 languages

List of languages

English, Indonesian, Japanese, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese

Type| Video sharing
License| Proprietary
Website| lemon8-app.com

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.

## History

[edit]

The app was first launched in Japan in May 2020 under the name Sharee,[1][2] and hit 1 million downloads in March 2022. It launched in the United States and United Kingdom in February 2023,[3] resulting in it becoming one of the most-downloaded apps on App Store in the United States a month later following influencer marketing campaigns.[4]

In November 2024, Lemon8 began to be integrated with TikTok, allowing users to link their profiles between the services and find their followers.[2]

## Content

[edit]

Lemon8 has been compared to Instagram, Pinterest, and Chinese app Xiaohongshu (also known as RED or RedNote outside of China),[5] with a particular focus on lifestyle content targeting women (such as beauty, food, and home decor).[6][7][4][8]

## Ownership

[edit]

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.[9]

Message displayed to U.S. users who search for Lemon8 on the Google Play Store while the ban was in effect

The U.S. launch of Lemon8 coincided with scrutiny over ByteDance and TikTok's operations in the country;[4] 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".[1]

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 implying that it was a platform "where the government is not 100% controlling what we see".[2] On 19 January 2025, after the act was found constitutional, Lemon8 was included in a suspension of service for all ByteDance-owned apps in the United States.[10] In January 2025, Texas governor Greg Abbott prohibited Lemon8 on all government devices.[11]

## References

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1. ^ a b Maheshwari, Sapna; Kircher, Madison Malone (29 March 2023). "TikTok's Owner Pushes a New App, While Under Washington's Glare". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
2. ^ a b c Fischer, Sara; Curi, Maria (7 January 2025). "TikTok pushes users to Lemon8 as ban looms". Axios. Archived from the original on 9 January 2025. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
3. ^ Lorenz, Taylor (1 April 2023). "Lemon8 is a Chinese-owned app. Can it survive the hype cycle?". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
4. ^ a b c Cuthbertson, Anthony (29 March 2023). "Lemon8: TikTok parent company's latest app hits top 10 in US charts". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
5. ^ "字节出海：偷师小红书，超越小红书-36氪". 36kr.com. 14 January 2025. Archived from the original on 20 January 2025. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
6. ^ Whateley, Dan; Biino, Marta (31 March 2023). "With TikTok's future in limbo, its owner is hiring a team in New York to woo creators for a new app". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
7. ^ "TikTok maker ByteDance takes aim at lifestyle leader Xiaohongshu with new app". Reuters. 14 July 2022. Archived from the original on 17 November 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
8. ^ Fischer, Sara (10 April 2023). "TikTok sister app Lemon8 surges in U.S." Axios. Archived from the original on 13 January 2025. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
9. ^ De Wei, Low (31 March 2023). "What Is Lemon8 and What Are Its Links With Under-Fire TikTok". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
10. ^ Davis, Wes (19 January 2025). "TikTok is coming back online in the US". The Verge. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
11. ^ Lathan, Nadia (31 January 2025). "Texas governor orders ban on DeepSeek, RedNote for government devices". Associated Press. Retrieved 1 February 2025.

## External links

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* Official website