TikTok’s launched an alternativee version of app in Europe which aims to enhance the positive, beneficial aspects of the TikTok experience, while it’s also launched new initiative that’ll make it easier for businesses to support charity organizations in the app,
First off, TikTok’s launching a new “TikTok Pro” app in Germany, Portugal and Spain, which TikTok says will allow “people to experience and engage with joyful and entertaining content.”
Which is seemingly different to the main TikTok app because it’s focused on positive, educational content.
As per the TikTok Pro description on the German App Store:
“TikTok Pro is a global video community where you can discover the coolest, funniest, and most educational short videos and share special moments with your friends. A useful app with a whole world within itself. TikTok Pro gives you the best video experience with helpful videos, engaging STEM content, and more personal expression.”
So it’s a custom, more positivity-focused TikTok experience.
It could be an offering to appeal to regional regulators, by removing all of the more questionable elements.
Also, no e-commerce. TikTok’s not looking to sell you stuff in this version of the app.
TikTok Pro will also come with TikTok’s new “Sunshine” program built in, which “offers a unique way for charities and NGOs to engage with new audiences, and allows the TikTok Pro community to support them.”
As per TikTok:
“Users can accumulate ‘virtual Sunshine’ by referring others to join and by engaging with content from charities, such as liking or reposting charity videos, following charity-related accounts and performing charity-related searches. People can then use that virtual Sunshine on a charity in the programme, and TikTok will make a donation to that charity.”
So it’s like TikTok, but only positive, with charity donation processes built into the app direct. So it’s less about getting you to buy stuff, and more about getting you to help others, with the whole principle of the new app being focused on facilitating a more positive impact and experience.
So why does TikTok need another app to do this?
I don’t know exactly, but again, it could be an attempt to better align with local market regulators and rules, with TikTok still under scrutiny in many regions.
Indeed, German politicians have repeatedly raised questions about the app, with some suggesting that TikTok should be banned due to the danger it poses to democracy, as “an instrument” in China and Russia’s hybrid warfare.”
The EU Commission has also raised questions about TikTok’s influence on younger users in particular, after recent controversy around the rise of the #SkinnyTok hashtag, which encouraged potentially harmful behaviors. EU regulators are also still exploring TikTok’s algorithmic approach with respect to the EU Digital Services Act, and it could be that this new TikTok Pro app aligns with broader efforts by TikTok to address related concerns.
The more positive content approach also mirrors how the Chinese local version of TikTok operates, with the Chinese Government overseeing content trends, and ensuring that more beneficial elements are promoted to Chinese youth.
Maybe, then, this is an experiment on that front also, though I don’t know that non-Communist countries will be as welcoming of such controls.
(Note: I’ve asked TikTok for more information on this alternate version of the app, and will update if/when I heard back.)
TikTok says that it’s partnering with a number of global and local charities on its Sunshine program, including Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF), WaterAid, Aktion Deutschland Hilft and the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU). It’s also looking to add more charity partners over time.
It seems like an interesting concept, though it’ll probably be a hard sell getting people to switch over to an alternate, more sanitized version of the app.
Maybe, eventually, that’ll be the only version available to younger users, or TikTok could look to push it in other ways. But it’s an interesting development amid ongoing concerns about social media regulation and restriction.
