ByteDance Launches New Search Engine in China

ByteDance, the owner of short-video app TikTok, has launched a new search engine in China, entering a sector currently dominated by Baidu. From a report: Beijing-based ByteDance is moving beyond its core businesses in news and video and into work-place messaging and music streaming, competing with Tencent and other Chinese tech firms. The domain for the new search engine, Toutiao Search, sits within the company's flagship product - Chinese news aggregator Jinri Toutiao. ByteDance, which according to sources familiar with the matter was valued at $78 billion in its last financing round in 2018, declined to comment. The company said on social media last month it was looking to hire people to work with its search engine team, and had hired technical experts from Google, Baidu and Bing. It said the search engine would offer content from ByteDance-owned apps, including Jinri Toutiao and the Chinese version of TikTok, as well as the wider web.

valued at $78 billion

[fustakrakich]

*sigh* Another grim fairy tale

Re:

[EmilyLewis]

Tiktok owner will launch Bytedance search engine into its existing product and hence aiming to grab some of Baidu's search market. Let's see how will bytedance manage to complete china's popular search engine 'Baidu'.

How Do You Search For "Nothing" ?

[dryriver]

As far as I understand, the firewalled Chinese Internet is continuously scrubbed clean of anything of political significance and anything that "contains uncomfortable truths". So precisely what does this search engine search for? Recipes for baking better Forture Cookies? 10-step programs for becoming a more loyal Communist? The highly successful habits of successful Chinese Commu-Capita-Preneurs? What is on the Chinese internet that actually needs searching for?

Re:

[bobstreo]

Ah Chinese government Zen.

I guess this will be the default (and only possible) search engine for Huawei devices soon.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Can't have Western internet

[Malays Boweman]

Because you are not supposed to be getting ideas that may undermine the State, comrade.

Is it that hard to name the site

[0xdeaddead]

What a garbage article.