China’s Leading Video Platforms Douyin and Tencent Discuss Openness

Chinese internet giant Tencent has sent an email to ByteDance’s short video platform Douyin on November 11, saying that the firm was trialling a project to gradually allow third-party creators to use some of its copyrighted content and creation tools in their works, and had issued invitations to other platforms to help promote them.

Tencent’s move meets the requirements of Chinese regulators to create an open internet, Douyin said in a statement on November 12, adding “we are pleased that Tencent’s copyrighted content can be shared on Douyin.”

ByteDance also said in the statement it had repeatedly applied to Tencent’s messaging app WeChat to restore the sharing and login functions of Douyin and its video-streaming app Xigua. Douyin has already replied to the email, and the product technicians of both sides will report the relevant details as soon as possible.

The breakthrough follows years of tense relations between the two social media rivals. In a long video industry statement made in April this year, Tencent Video once called on short video platforms and creators not to edit and spread film and television works.

In August this year, Tencent Video took Douyin to court for allowing its users to upload clips from the internet giant’s hit TV series Crime Crackdown and airing them without authorization.

SEE ALSO: Tencent Video Sues Bytedance’s Douyin for Copyright Infringement