Some social media users who fear the looming TikTok ban say they may pivot to Lemon8, a TikTok sister app with similar features—but Lemon8 was also developed by the Chinese company ByteDance, meaning it could also be impacted by the ban unless ByteDance sells the platforms.
The bill signed into law by President Joe Biden last year that would ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells the platform would also ban Lemon8, Christopher Krepich, communications director for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the congressional committee that advanced the bill, told Forbes.
Energy and Commerce committee chair, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., cited Lemon8 and the ByteDance-developed video editing app CapCut alongside TikTok as apps that could lead to “foreign interference and manipulation” at a hearing for the bill in March last year.
Despite its potential ban, Lemon8 appears to have surged in popularity in recent weeks: It ranks as the No. 1 free app on the Apple app store, a significant increase from last month when it wasn’t even ranked in the top 25, according to Sensor Tower, a market research firm that tracks app downloads.
ByteDance strengthened the bond between TikTok and Lemon8 in November as the ban loomed, allowing users to sign into Lemon8, which remains a separate app, with their TikTok credentials.
Forbes has reached out to ByteDance for comment, as well as Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., who introduced the TikTok ban bill in the House last year.
ByteDance launched Lemon8 in Japan in 2020, years before it made its United States debut in February 2023. The app is a social media platform that brands itself as a “lifestyle community,” with much of its content involving topics like fashion, workout routines and food. Lemon8 has some similar features to TikTok, including a scrollable For You page and video posts, though Lemon8 also functions more like Pinterest and Instagram, with users able to share and edit photos and collages. When the app launched in the United States, the New York Times reported marketing firms working with ByteDance offered to pay creators to post content approved by the company to jump-start its creator community. The Wrap reported in October Lemon8 had reached 12 million downloads in the United States, three times the amount it had one year prior, but still just a fraction of the more than 150 million Americans that the ByteDance says use TikTok.
Some social media users have posted in recent weeks that they would pivot to Lemon8 as a TikTok alternative. In one TikTok video posted by creator @strawberriredd that says it is sponsored, though it’s unclear who the video is sponsored by, the creator calls Lemon8 TikTok’s “backup app” that she said people should download in the event of a TikTok ban. The video has nearly 3 million views, though many users in the comments section expressed confusion over whether Lemon8 would also be banned. TikTok creator Gianna Harner, who has more than 11 million followers, posted a video last week urging her followers to make Lemon8 accounts and proposed it as the app users should move to if TikTok is banned, informing users that ByteDance’s integration of the two platforms would allow TikTok users to transfer their followers to Lemon8 upon signing in with their TikTok credentials.
Some TikTok users, however, are more skeptical of Lemon8 and have expressed confusion over why they’re suddenly seeing more content advertising Lemon8 on their TikTok feeds. “Can someone please tell me what Lemon8 is and why people are following me on it when I don’t even have it?” one confused user posted on TikTok in December, garnering more than 300,000 likes and comments from other users who said they also got notifications about receiving followers on Lemon8. “Lemon8 must be replacing TikTok the way they shoving it down our throats,” one user posted on X, with the most-liked reply expressing confusion over receiving follower requests despite not downloading Lemon8.
A TikTok and Lemon8 ban may be just weeks away and could go into effect as soon as Jan. 19 if ByteDance does not sell the platforms. The TikTok ban, first introduced last year as a bill that was later included in a large foreign aid package and passed overwhelmingly in both chambers of Congress, has faced legal challenges from ByteDance, though an appeals court rejected its challenge to the ban-or-sell law last month. TikTok appealed the case again to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the challenge with oral arguments set for Jan. 10. President-elect Donald Trump, who in his first term tried to ban the app himself, switched up his tune in 2024, using the platform himself for his presidential campaign, where he amassed more than 14 million followers. Trump filed an amicus brief last week asking the Supreme Court to extend the Jan. 19 deadline that would ban TikTok while the legal battle plays out, weeks after Trump reportedly met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
As TikTok surged in popularity this decade, many social media apps moved to make their own For You Page-style video sharing feeds to compete, which may be the next stop for creators if TikTok is banned. Some creators told NBC News they would move to Instagram, which has a TikTok-like Reels feature, or YouTube, which has a similar YouTube Shorts feed. When India banned TikTok in 2020, Instagram surged in popularity and a YouGov survey found most creators said they would pivot to Instagram. Some influencers, who can make a living through TikTok’s potentially lucrative creator fund, told the Wall Street Journal they are unsure whether the ban—a political debate for years—will even happen.
Lemon8, TikTok’s Sister App, Is Growing Fast — but Will It Last? (The Wrap)
Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to TikTok ban (NBC News)
Lemon8 Explained: ByteDance Pushes Brand New App That Blends Instagram And Pinterest And Quickly Climbs The Charts (Forbes)
A TikTok Ban Looms. Creators Say They’ll Believe It When They See It. (Wall Street Journal)
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