China's very own ByteDance is now planning to launch it's very own version of the popular audio chat app Clubhouse to release for the Chinese market. Although this could potentially be a hit, one of the biggest problems with this is what and how people would talk to each other given the strict state censorship.
China Clubhouse app
This news was reported by Reuters and for those that aren't too familiar, Clubhouse is a certain app that would allow its users to set up some sort of audio chat room. This is now getting even more popular among the Silicon Valley people. It was also reportedly available for a brief time in China.
However, after users had dared to bring up certain topics regarding anathema towards the Chinese government, and even talking about the concentration camps for the Uighur Muslims over in the Xinjiang province, and even the current relations with Taiwan, and the particular crackdowns made on Hong Kong's independence, state censorship has officially banned the app some time early February.
Clubhouse can be used through VPNs
A lot of people over in China still nonetheless remain able to access the given app through VPNs or Virtual Private Networks which would allow them to initially bypass the government's national firewalls. According to Bloomberg, however, there might still be some remains concerning Clubhouse's very own infrastructure operators in China that could still hand the user data over.
Reuters then stated that there are about at least a dozen apps cloning the popular Clubhouse's functionality that have recently launched in China ever since. Generally, however, they launch with the expectation that they will be able to employ even more stringent moderation techniques in order to make sure that users won't be able to buck the party line.
ByteDance Chinese company'
There is already a particularly established market for the said apps over in China like the Zhiya, a particular music and video gaming-centric app that got really popular with some young people and that also employs moderators to be able to listen in on every particular conversation.
According to Reuter's sources, ByteDance's plans are still in its very early stages. A recent South China Morning Post report noted that Bytedance is also moving rather aggressively into the field of mobile gaming which is currently a space dominated by its rival firm known as Tencent Holdings.
Plans to make a Clubhouse clone
Marco Lai Jinnan, the recent founder of the popular China-based audio chat app known as Lizhi, noted to SCMP that any particular effort in order to replace the popular Clubhouse's freewheeling environment by any sort of Chinese firm would somehow be most likely doomed to fail. It was also noted that any prospective developers would need to be able to make massive concessions towards speech regulations in order for this to work.
A certain firm called Inke was able to build and launch a recent Clubhouse clone known as Duihuaba in just a little over a week. The app enlisted chic celebrities like other venture capitalists as well as fashion critics to promote it. However, it was still quickly retracted with just little explanation coming from the media except that it was incomplete.
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Written by Urian Buenconsejo
