TikTok's owner has plans to move US users to a new version of CapCut, the popular video-editing app
The app's owner, ByteDance, has laid out plans to split US users into a new version of CapCut called "CapCut US," according to documentation viewed by Business Insider. Setting up a US-specific app could be part of a broader plan to comply with a 2024 law that required ByteDance to separate from TikTok and its other US assets or essentially cease operating in the country.
ByteDance is similarly planning to create a separate US version of TikTok, The Information reported on Sunday. The plan to split out a US version of CapCut suggests the company may be making a broader push to separate itself from the US beyond a TikTok sale.
While US users, influencers, and marketers have rallied to try to save TikTok this year, CapCut has also become a key tool for professional creators — and everyday social media users — who turn to the app for viral video templates and other editing features. CapCut has been downloaded over 1 billion times on the Google Play store, and it's currently the top photo and video app in Apple's US app store, outranking Instagram and YouTube in the category.
BI was not able to determine whether ByteDance plans to make US replicas of other apps it owns, such as its Instagram-style app Lemon8 or its education app Gauth, all of which are subject to the same divestment requirements as TikTok and CapCut.
ByteDance has spent a little over a year wrestling with how to respond to the 2024 divest-or-ban law. The company initially challenged the law in court but lost its case in the Supreme Court in January. President Donald Trump then granted it a lifeline, instructing his attorney general not to enforce the law while his administration tries to negotiate a TikTok sale.
Several bidders have emerged for TikTok, including AI company Perplexity and ad tech firm AppLovin. TikTok may ultimately sell to a group of US investors who, combined, could acquire a large enough stake to meet the law's divestment requirements. Trump told Fox News in late June that he was backing a bid from a group of "very wealthy people." He told reporters on Friday that discussions with China around a potential sale could begin this week. Any deal around TikTok would require approval from both the US and China.
Even if ByteDance gets the green light from both Trump and the Chinese government to split off from its apps in the US, many questions remain.
Would US-only versions of CapCut or TikTok still include videos and templates from non-US users? Would the owner of the US apps have access to ByteDance's algorithms? And will separate US apps satisfy the national security concerns that originally pushed Congress to pass a divestment law targeting the company?
ByteDance may also face obstacles in getting Americans to download new versions of its apps as competitors like YouTube have released similar features for their users. Meta released a CapCut-like app called Edits in April, which ranks 16th among US photo and video apps in Apple's rankings.
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