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Bloomberg
Bytedance Ltd, the world’s most valuable startup, unveiled a new video-based messaging service designed to take on Tencent Holdings Ltd’s dominant WeChat.
Bytedance launched the new service, named “Duoshan,†during a live-streamed event in Beijing. Similar to Snapchat, the app lets users send short-lived videos, GIFs and images to each other.
Best known for its news aggregation service Toutiao and short video clip sharing service Tik Tok, Bytedance is putting pressure on WeChat, which has more than a billion users and is considered a must-have in China. Tencent has used the popularity of WeChat to underpin its other businesses, including its gaming operations.
Duoshan will initially focus on the Chinese market.