ByteDance has unveiled the Xiao Qu Xing app, which is designed for children and is similar in functionality to TikTok, according to the South China Morning Post.
The day before, the company announced changes in the rules for using the Douyin service (the Chinese version of TikTok): from now on, users under the age of 14 will not be able to spend more than 40 minutes a day in the application. In the new application, the limit is even stricter: the same 40 minutes a day – only on weekends and on national holidays, 30 minutes a day – on weekdays, and the ability of parents to limit the rate of use of the application by children up to 15 minutes a day. The children themselves will not be able to change these settings in any way.
Xiao Qu Xing was developed by ByteDance’s education arm, which effectively ceased operations after Chinese authorities imposed severe restrictions on EdTech companies in July. Xiao Qu Xing users, like TikTok, will be able to watch a feed of short videos, but they will all be purely educational. However, children will not be able to create their own content or share clips on their channels. The only interactive feature in the app is to mark videos as liked.
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